Percy's Diary
by bionsena
Summary: Charlie finds Percy's diary and the whole family read it. Along the way the discover the truth behind his betrayal and uncover secrets of their lost family member. Set during Deathly Hallows. I do not own HP.
1. Chapter 1

Charlie Weasley was in a hurry, their family had just caught wind that they were about to be targeted. Dad had left his job at the Ministry and they were all going into hiding at Aunt Muriel's. Everyone was running around the house like headless chickens gathering things up. Charlie darted into rooms here and there gathering up things at random. He found a brown leather book under a pillow in Percy's old room. He felt a surge of hurt at the thought of the traitor. He looked at the book curiously, turning it over in his fingers.

"CHARLIE!" he heard his mum bellow from floors below.

"Coming!" he shouted back, shoving the book into his pocket without a second thought.

Later at Aunt Muriel's the eight Weasley's (including Fleur) sat around in Muriel's badly decorated living room in silence. They were all concerned about Ron, Harry and Hermione. Percy too though none would dare say it. Charlie's hands were cold and he shoved them in his pockets. Felling a square, leather object in his left one, he pulled it out and stared at it before remembering.

"What's that Charlie?" George asked curiously.

"It's a book George; you know what they are right?" Fred deadpanned.

"I found it in Percy's room" Charlie muttered.

The room stared speculatively at the book.

"Well what is it?" Ginny asked impatiently.

Charlie opened the book, flicked through the pages briefly then shut it again.

"I think it's a diary" he said. Molly looked scandalised.

"What did you take it for?" she chastised her second eldest.

"Chill mum" said Bill "Charlie didn't know."

"I think we should read it" Fred said. Most people threw him confused looks. "Well think about if we read we might understand why he..." he trailed off. He didn't need to finish.

"Shock horror, Fred said something clever, I feel so betrayed" George fake sobbed trying to diffuse the tension. It worked as everyone chuckled.

Fleur volunteered to start reading and no-one objected.

**August 17****th**** 1987**

**Found this book today, figured I might as well use it for something. It was just gathering dust in the attic. Bill and Charlie are home for the summer**

"Wasn't this just before he started Hogwarts?" Bill asked. Arthur nodded.

**and their full of amazing stories about Hogwarts as always. Fred, George, Ron and Ginny are all over them and mum and dad are bursting with pride. I haven't been able to get a word in edgeways, I'm so jealous. I can't wait to get to Hogwarts. I hope that I can be as good as them when I do though. Charlie got on the school quidditch team this year**

"I remember that" Charlie beamed.

**which, you know good for him, but flying terrifies me so I'm never going to live up to that. Bill's got great grades and just got his prefect letter. I'm nowhere as smart as either of them so I'm going to have to kill myself trying to get noticed in this family for something that's already been done. Nothing new there then.**

Nobody said anything, too stunned to believe that perfect Percy was so insecure.

**August 18****th ****1987**

**You wouldn't think it was possible to feel so completely alone in such a large family but somehow I've pulled it off. Well done Percy. When I was younger Bill and Charlie would let me tag along with them but I always got the feeling they didn't want me around.**

Bill and Charlie had the grace to look guilty.

**Then when Fred and George came along I was excited, I'd always wanted younger siblings, being the baby of the family's embarrassing**

"Ain't that the truth." Ginny muttered.

**But I soon realised they didn't look up to me like I'd hoped they would. Hero worshipped Bill and Charlie but I was just boring predictable Percy. So did Ron and Ginny when they came along. And me? Overlooked, ignored because I'm not cool, because I like different things, because I'm too shy to make friends.**

"Oh Percy" Molly sobbed. Arthur said nothing but he was beginning to feel bad for the things he'd said to his third son.

**Great right? And then there's the teasing. I mean sure I'm an easy target, but I wish they'd pick on someone else for a change. Worse day of my life was when I got glasses. They kept staring at me...all fricking day. I cried myself to sleep. First time, definitely not the last though unfortunately.**

Everyone looked horrified. They hadn't realised he was so sensitive. Fred and George exchanged glances; they had kind of singled him out. They didn't realise their jokes weren't so funny to Percy.

**So there you have it. Bill and Charlie hang out together. Fred and George. Ron and Ginny. Everyone has a sibling to be close to. Except me. I've never been so lonely.**

"What have we done?" Ginny asked the room at large. Nobody answered. They all went to bed. Thoughts churning. Could it be that Percy leaving had nothing to do with Voldemort and beliefs after all? Was it their own fault?


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning Bill woke first and quickly roused everyone else so they could continue reading Percy's diary. They were all very keen to find out more.

"I'll read next." Arthur volunteered.

**August 20****th**** 1987**

**The most bizarre thing happened today.**

"What?" Fred and George said in unison. Molly glared at them.

**Fred and George put frog spawn in my cereal**

"That's not bizarre we did that loads of times." They said looking disappointed.

"I don't think that's what he was talking about." Ginny said annoyed.

**and I stormed out of the house in an angry huff to my special place just over the hill. There's a little stream that runs past it and I go there when I'm upset. So, I was just sitting there, moodily throwing things in the stream when I heard a voice behind me.**

"**Hi!" **

**I nearly fell in the stream**

Everyone chuckled slightly.

**in shock. I spun round quickly. My visitor was a girl, about the same age as me. She had dark blond hair and hazel eyes. She looked friendly.**

"**Hi" I said tentatively back. She beamed, obviously hoping to make friends.**

"Aww" Molly said "What a lovely girl."

"**I'm Mia. Mia Elliot. I live over there." She said pointing in the opposite direction to the Burrow.**

"**Percy Weasley" I mumbled embarrassed, wondering why she would want to be friends with me. **

"Maybe she fancies him?" Charlie said conversationally.

"Aw sweet." Ginny said.

**She smiled encouragingly at me and stuck out her right hand. I shook it, my confidence growing; she didn't look like she was going to make fun of me. Could I be about to make my first real friend? I held my breath and mentally crossed my fingers.**

Nobody found this amusing. Several people looked shame-faced.

"**Why were you throwing things in the stream" Mia asked curiously. I explained about my brothers and frog spawn. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Well that wasn't very nice of them."**

"No it wasn't" Arthur said eyeing aforementioned twins.

**I looked at her surprised and she frowned. "What?" she asked.**

"**Not many people tend to stick up for me" I said "I'm pretty boring and I don't really seem to fit in with my family." Mia looked outraged.**

"**Why not?" she demanded.**

"**I dunno we don't really like the same stuff."**

**She looked more confused than ever and stared at me desperate for information. Somewhere in my gut I felt I could trust her, and out of nowhere I found myself spilling all my insecurities and woes about what it was like having six siblings and being in the middle. She didn't interrupt and when I was finished started telling me about her life and how she was an only child.**

"**I find myself being lonely too" she confided in me.**

Everyone was too engrossed to interrupt at this point.

"**Maybe **_**we**_** can be friends?" she asked looking hopeful. My chest seemed to expand at this point and I eagerly agreed. We arranged to meet the next day and I went home in the best mood I'd had in ages.**

"I want to meet this girl" surprisingly Fred and George said.

"She sounds lovely." Fleur agreed. Molly just beamed and Ginny tried not to cry for her brother because he hadn't made a friend until he was eleven.

**Empathy I thought to myself while I was lying in bed. Someone to empathise with, not who feels sorry for me. I can't stand pity. I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face, for the first time in a long time.**

**August 25****th**** 1987**

**Mia and I have been meeting up every day at the place behind the hill. My family keeps asking where I disappear to all the time.**

"Well this solves that mystery." Charlie muttered.

**I can't bring myself to tell them. Selfishly I want to keep Mia to myself, a secret I don't want to share. Mostly because the teasing that I'd gotten a girlfriend would be unbearable**

Fred, George and Ginny cringed remembering the things they'd said when they found out about Penelope Clearwater.

**but it so isn't like that between Mia and me. She's very quickly become my best friend, my secret keeper in a sense. I tell her everything, except about magic because Mia's a muggle. Dad would be thrilled.**

Everyone chuckled at that.

**Mia told me I'm her best friend too. I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day.**

"Zat is so sweet" Fleur gushed.

**She's told me all about herself. Her dad's a banker and her mum teaches in the village. She has several cousins who she finds irritating but live far enough away that she doesn't have to see them that often. Her middle name is Lucy after her grandmother. She's terrified of spiders, just like Ron,**

Molly glared at Fred at the reminder. He cringed.

"I said I was sorry" he said pleadingly.

Arthur decided to keep reading.

**and she's an artist. I've seen some of her drawings, they're very good. We both love to read and we spent an afternoon discussing our favourite books. I'm really going to miss her when I go off to Hogwarts, only she thinks it's just a normal boarding school. I got my letter Tuesday; I'm really excited to go but fearful that not seeing Mia till Christmas will mean she'll have forgotten me.**

"Silly Percy." George said shaking his head.

**She whacked me upside the head when I mentioned this out loud**

There was an outbreak of giggling.

"**Idiot" she'd said fondly. First time that's ever been used in an affectionate tone**

The laughter stopped abruptly.

**and she then made me promise to write to her loads. We pinky swore on it,**

"What's that?" Arthur asked curiously.

**this is apparently some kind of muggle way of making an unbreakable vow except you don't die if you break it. I'm starting to see why dad likes muggles so much. They're fascinating. So many different things they've come up with without using magic. I really wish I could tell her. The secrets eating away at me.**

Everyone looked in pity at the book. Keeping a secret from a friend was horrible.

**I'm worried that I'll have to break our promise to write to her, seeing as muggles aren't really used to seeing owls. Tomorrows going to be a good and bad day at the same time. It's Uncle Bilius' birthday which is good because I like Uncle Bilius, but I don't get to see Mia. She understands though. I hope Fred and George don't make a huge spectacle tomorrow, but knowing them it's very unlikely.**

The tension broke slightly at the last line, and the twins tried, and failed, to look offended.

"Who wants to read now?" Arthur asked.


	3. Chapter 3

"I want to read." Ginny said taking the book from her father.

**August 26****th**** 1987 **

**Uncle Bilius' birthday. It's the same every year. He has too much to drink; Fred and George blow something up,**

"Not _every_ year!" they said disgruntled. Bill and Charlie snorted.

**and everyone tries to avoid Auntie Muriel.**

Everyone made noises of agreement.

**Weasley family get togethers never changed much but the numbers seem to increase each year, someone's going to have to make a dictionary if they want us to remember all of their names. The twins are suspiciously quiet this morning but that might be because they've only just woken up. Nevertheless I'm going to watch my back today.**

"Everyone should." Ginny muttered.

**I'm writing after the party now. Fred and George didn't actually do anything for once but that doesn't mean they weren't yelled at. See the thing is, I wasn't quite fast enough this year and Auntie Muriel got me.**

"Poor bugger." Charlie said sadly.

**and she was as delightful as ever**

"Percy's great with the sarcasm isn't he." Fred said chuckling.

**First she calls me Peter, then she says I'm too short. Actually midget's the word she used, then the old bat said it was a shame I was never going to live up to my brother's and I should resign myself to being a loser like my father.**

"She said WHAT!" Molly shrieked.

Everyone covered their ears until the rant was over.

**Fuming, fighting back tears, I left her to inflict misery on someone else and ran inside the house. I sat in the living room scowling at the presents lying on the coffee table. I refused to cry. Then my eyes alighted on a bottle of Firewhisky that was from my cousin Jonas. An idea struck me out of nowhere**

"He didn't." Fred and George gasped.

**In hindsight spiking the punch wasn't the best idea after all, **

"Oh he did." Ginny giggled.

**but seeing as Fred and George got the blame from my very irate mother (I did feel guilty about that one later)**

"We should think so!" the two said annoyed. Everyone else was laughing.

"Go Percy." Bill cheered.

**and Auntie Muriel made a fool of herself it turned out pretty well. Plus Uncle Bilius said it was the best birthday yet (he doesn't like Muriel either)**

"Who does?" Bill, Charlie, the twins, Fleur and Ginny asked.

**and we all know what he's like when he's drunk.**

More laughter.

"Who knew Percy was so funny." George gasped.

**Overall it wasn't such a bad day in the end and I get to see Mia tomorrow so no complaints here.**

**August 27****th**** 1987**

**I am in deep, deep trouble,**

Everyone was puzzled at the change in tone and Ginny read on quickly.

**Mia knows I'm a wizard.**

There was a collective gasp.

**It wasn't my fault honestly, there were these loud boys behind the hill today and we tried to stay away from them we really did but they just kept following us. **

**I swear it was accidental but one of them pushed Mia and she fell over and I was so angry and it burst out of me in fury. A rock of the ground rose into the air behind the boys, they couldn't see it but Mia could, there was a wind whipping up a dust storm, and the rock hit the boy who pushed her.**

"Oh dear." Fleur gasped.

**The boy gasped in pain and the gang bolted. I turned to Mia and she stared at me in horror, I held my hand out to help her up and she cringed away from me.**

"Poor girl must be so confused." Molly gushed.

"Forget confused, terrified maybe." Bill said.

"**Did you do that?" she demanded. I just stared at her, ice flooding my veins. **

"**N...no...I" I sounded unconvincing even to myself. I'd always been an awful liar. Mia looked even angrier.**

"**I can't be friends with a liar!" She spat and turned to walk away. I grabbed her wrist, I couldn't let her go. She was the only person I had to talk to. The only one who actually liked me for who I am.**

**I made my decision. **

"**I'm a wizard."**

Everyone's jaws hit the floor.

"Percy!" Arthur choked.

**She turned to look at me. I held my breath.**

"**What?" Okay so no screaming and running, good sign. She also appeared to have calmed down so I rushed ahead and told her everything. Magic, wands, potions, Hogwarts, Blood status hierarchy, Dumbledore, You-Know-Who, everything.**

"What the hell Perce?" Charlie burst out.

"If she promises not to tell it might be ok." Arthur said.

**She sat there staring at me incredulously. When I was done she seemed to be struggling with what to say.**

"**So there's an entire other world normal people don't know about?" she said slowly, looking at me for confirmation.**

**I nodded "We call normal people muggles though."**

"**Why?"**

"**Huh, I don't actually know. It's just what we call them." I said frowning.**

"Do you know dad?" Fred asked.

Arthur frowned too. "Actually I don't."

"**But Mia you have to understand you can't tell anyone about this. Not your parents, not anybody." She looked at me, I stared right back pleadingly.**

"**Please I'll get in so much trouble." Eventually she nodded. **

"**I promise. As long as you write to me when you're at school and tell me everything."**

"**I already promised that."**

"**Yeah but I thought you were lying." She said, right as usual.**

"**Sorry, but wizards use owls for post and I figured you'd know something was wrong."**

"**Well duh, most, what was it; muggles have never seen an owl."**

"**I've never seen loads of muggle things either."**

**We both decided to teach each other about our own worlds and by the time I went home that day I was full of excitement now I could finally be completely honest and I was going to learn all about muggles. Dad would be wetting himself I thought wryly as I fell asleep.**

"He is now." Bill chuckled looking at his father's thrilled face.

"Do you think Percy's written down any of these things he's learnt?" he asked his wife.

She smiled at him "We'll find out dear."

Ginny cleared her throat. "Who wants to read now?"

_A/N please review and tell me if you want this to eventually be Percy/Mia or if they should just be friends._


	4. Chapter 4

"I'll read next Gin." Bill said.

His sister handed him the diary.

**August 30****th**** 1987**

"**Go on tell me?"**

"**No."**

"**Please?"**

**Mia won't let it go. She's very stubborn.**

"I'm confused." George said.

"What else is new?" Charlie shot back.

"**His name can't be You-Know-Who. That's just ridiculous."**

"Ooohhhh" George exclaimed. Fred rolled his eyes.

"**Fine but I'm only saying it once. Voldemort."**

Unanimous flinch.

**There was a beat of silence. And then she was laughing.**

"Um what? Ginny asked.

**Utterly bewildered I stared at her. She caught sight of my face and laughed even harder. Had she cracked? **

"Quite possibly." Fred muttered.

"**I'm sorry." She said gasping for breath "But that's the most ridiculous name I've ever heard. It sounds like Mouldy shorts."**

**Suddenly I was laughing too.**

So was everyone else in the room.

"This girls a genius." Bill chuckled.

"Let's call him that from now on." The twins said.

**The most evil wizard in history and we were laughing at his name. It seemed ludicrous but we couldn't stop for some time. It seemed to temporarily remove the unspoken sadness that I was leaving tomorrow.**

"**I'll be back at Christmas" I'd promised "and I'll write loads."**

**Wed gone to Diagon Alley yesterday to get my school things,**

"Diagon Alley's awesome" Charlie cheered.

**and I'd bought several of them with me to show to Mia. **

**When we finally stopped laughing. I got out my Standard Book of Spells Grade 1 and we both looked at in awe.**

"**They all look a bit like Latin words" Mia observed.**

"**Look at this one" I said pointing "Wingardium Leviosa to make objects fly."**

"**Cool" she sighed "I wish I could do magic."**

"Doesn't everyone?" Bill asked

"The Dursleys don't." Ginny smirked.

"**Can I see your wand?" she asked.**

**I got it out. "Willow, twelve inches, dragon heart string" I said proudly. She looked at me bemused.**

"**What?"**

"Muggle, Percy" Arthur shook his head.

"**What are you on about? Wait a second DRAGONS are real?"**

"**Um yeah"**

"**Awesome!"**

"Yes they are" Charlie told the book.

"You know she can't hear you right?" Fred asked amused.

**We spent the afternoon discussing wand cores, magical creatures and the sorting. **

**I was worried about it.**

"Everyone is." George sighed.

**What if they put me in another house? The first Weasley of two generations to not be a Gryffindor. I can just imagine what Fred and George would be like. What everyone would be thinking. What's wrong with _you_?**

"We would still have been proud of you?" Molly said.

Fred and George cringed saying nothing.

**Mia was as encouraging as she could be, but when we finally parted with a hug and more promises to write, I knew I wasn't going to sleep very well tonight.**

**September 1****st**** 1987 **

"Yay Hogwarts!" yelled Fred and George. Everyone else covered their ears and glared at them.

**I woke up really early this morning and waited around for ages for everyone else to get up. The first of September's always mad in this house.**

"Too true" Ginny grumbled.

**We moved at lightning speed packing and repacking. Forgetting things, remembering them again and having to go back. By the time we get to the station everyone's a bit shirty with each other. The younger ones stayed at home with dad but they got up to see us off. Well they said goodbye to Bill and Charlie, not entirely sure if any were said in my direction, very unlikely though. I might as well be a flobberworm, or a duck as Mia says.**

There were many sheepish expressions.

**I flushed with embarrassment as Mum kissed me goodbye on the platform.**

"We all do." The kids said in unison.

**When we got on the train Bill and Charlie both dashed off to find their friends. I stood in the middle of the corridor feeling very loser like.**

"I told you to look after Percy!" Molly scolded her two eldest.

They backed away from her glare.

**I wandered around for a bit till a came across a compartment with a couple of boys in it who looked the same age as me.**

"**Hi, can I sit here?" I asked nervously. They both nodded.**

**I'm Oliver" said a brown haired boy with a Scottish accent.**

"Woody!" Fred and George chorused.

"**Lucas." Said the fair haired one. We got to know each other quite well on the train journey, we all wanted to be in Gryffindor. Lucas was Muggle-born, and Oliver was ever so slightly obsessed with Quidditch.**

The twins snorted "Slightly?" they said incredulously.

**Darkness fell outside when they train finally pulled to a stop. "Firs years over ere. Firs years" called the biggest man I'd ever seen. I gaped at him. I wasn't the only one.**

"HAGRID!"

**From what I'd gathered from Bill and Charlie, this must be Hagrid the gamekeeper. I heard Oliver mutter next to me "Blimey."**

**After carefully manoeuvring ourselves into little wooden boats we set out across the big black lake.**

"**Oooohhhh" was the general exclamation as the magnificent castle came into view. Huge, intimidating, awe inspiring, turrets and towers and millions of twinkling lights. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.**

Everyone sighed reminiscently.

**We clambered up the stone steps and Hagrid knocked on the front door three times. It swung open to reveal the, according to my brothers, **_**terrifyingly wonderful, **_**Professor McGonagall.**

"Best teacher ever" Ginny said.

There were several noises of agreement.

**She led us in to the sorting after a brief and frightening encounter with the school ghosts. **

"**Ryan Lucas" was sorted in too Hufflepuff. **

**Then it was my turn. My heart started racing and I felt sick.**

"**Weasley Percy" I walked up to the chair and sat down. McGonagall lowered the hat over my head.**

**Everyone waited to see what the hat would say.**

"_**Hmmm another Weasley." **_**Not exactly the best start. **_**"You would do well to stay with your family I think."**_** I crossed my fingers and the hat shouted out "GRYFFINDOR!"**

**I was so relieved that I didn't even notice my brothers cheering. I stumbled to the Gryffindor table and Bill thumped me on the back. I was pleased to see that Oliver Wood the boy from the train was also In Gryffindor.**

**I had a sneaky suspicion as they lead us up the stairs to the dormitories that they made such a good feast to befuddle our minds and make us drowsy so we didn't remember the route to the Great Hall in the morning.**

There was an outbreak of laughter.

**I fell asleep quickly, full of excitement for the day to come.**

"That's it." Bill said. "Who wants to read now?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Oooh pick me next!" George said "I want to read."

Fred clutched his heart in horror "Traitor!"

**September 7****th**** 1987**

**This first week has been a bit stressing. It takes a while to adjust to the workload, and Potions lessons are torture. Snape really is as foul as Bill said he was.**

Everyone glared at Snape's name.

**Right now I'm sitting on my bed, trying to write my first letter to Mia. The end of my quill looks bit chewed now. I really don't know how to start.**

"Aw young love" Bill teased.

_**Dear Mia, **_**well that's a good a place as any to start I thought.**

_**Everyone here's a bit mad especially my roommates as they are currently jumping around like lunatics.**_

Everyone laughed.

_**I'm finding lessons a bit hard though especially Transfiguration and my potions teacher's a bit scary looking and seems to have an aversion to shampoo.**_

They laughed harder.

_**I haven't made any friends yet because I'm having to study so much to keep up! Haven't seen hide or hair of either of my brothers, if I didn't know better I'd say they were trying to avoid me. I got into Gryffindor though!**_

The laughter stopped quite abruptly.

"We weren't doing it on purpose" Charlie said sadly.

_**What's your first week been like at your new school? Made any new friends?**_

_**Percy**_

**Yeah I thought rereading it, not too serious and I hoped she wouldn't read into the last question as the insecurity she had better friends than me now.**

"Oh Percy" Ginny sighed.

"**Hey Percy want to join in?" Oliver asked. He and my other roommate Matt were jumping on the beds. I sighed sadly. **

"**Sorry have to do my Charms Essay." The teachers do like to pile homework on us and if I don't do it right after I get it I find myself rushing it last minute and getting a bad grade.**

The twins looked sheepish and Bill sniggered.

**The first lesson with each teacher was awful. They looked at me expectantly when they saw my last name. Bill and Charlie's little brother. They were all waiting to see if I was smart or good at Quidditch like them. Nothing was ever said but they stopped after a few days when it became painfully clear that I was neither as my grades and flat out refusal to get on a broomstick showed.**

"He was always afraid of flying." Arthur said.

**Why can't they see me as me and not something to be held in comparison to my more talented brothers? **

Molly held back a sob.

**September 10****th**** 1987**

**The school barn owl I'd sent to Mia bought me a reply today. I have to admit the postal arrival gave me a bit of a shock on the first day.**

"It does to everyone." George chuckled.

**I'd knocked over my drink. I took Mia's reply eagerly of the owl's leg.**

"**What you got there Perce?" I looked up to see Bill watching me. I shrugged.**

"**Letter from mum" I lied quickly. He nodded and walked on probably already forgetting me.**

Aforementioned man looked guilty.

**I'd always been able to lie to my family. Just not anyone else. They never paid me enough attention to notice how bad a liar I really was. My nostrils flared each time, Mia told me one day. I felt upset for a moment. How sad is that? A girl I've known for less than a month knows me better than my own family.**

"He's right though" said Ginny "We never pay him much attention."

Several people slid down in their seats in shame.

**I shrugged it off, used to it.**

They sunk even lower at that.

**I finally opened my letter.**

_**Dear Percy**_**, she'd written**

_**Schools boring but I'm enjoying the art lessons! I've made a few knew friends but none as good as you, **_**she knew me so well I thought wryly.**

Molly was delighted her son had at least one person to talk to.

_**I laughed when I read about your potion teacher's aversion to hair care.**_

"So did we." The younger ones chorused.

_**I'm sorry you're struggling though. You should find time to make friends; grades aren't the only thing that's important. Its better that you're happy.**_

_**Congratulations on getting into Gryffindor. I'm really pleased for you. Missing me yet?**_

_**Mia**_

"She really is a very nice girl." Arthur commented.

There were noises of agreement.

**I felt warmth spread to my fingers and toes and I grinned easily for the first time all week. Mia just had this knack of making me feel better.**

**29****th**** September 1987**

**Haven't written in this diary for ages.**

"No kidding" said Fred looking at the dates.

**I've been way too busy. Mia and I write to each other every other day. I'm really looking forward to seeing her at Christmas. I got cornered by some Slytherins today but my roommates rescued me. I'm really starting to like them both and we are slowly becoming friends. Saw Charlie on the Quidditch pitch. They were practicing for their upcoming match.**

"Brutal that match. Always is." Charlie muttered. Ginny, Fred and George all nodded. Fleur looked amused.

**I felt jealous as I watched my brother. He really could fly well. I couldn't even get on a broomstick properly. I also managed to melt a cauldron in Potions, trip over my own feet, forget my Defence homework (teacher's so incompetent he didn't notice though) and got laughed at by my eldest brother for sitting on salamander, someone had left on the seat, and jumping up again with a yelp. **

"Bill" his wife chastised and his mother glared. He shrank under the scrutiny.

**All in all a pretty lousy day today. It can only get better though right?**

Molly looked appalled at how pessimistic her third son was.

"Phew." George said. "Who wants to read now?"


	6. Chapter 6

"I might as well read." Fred said resigned.

**31****st**** of October 1987**

**Halloween. Best holiday of the year, way better than Christmas, which is all painfully frustrating. Having to pretend you like your gifts, while you sadly think to yourself my family don't know me at all. Last year all I got were books. Sure I like to read but these were all really long, uninteresting books. It's like being told that I must be as dull as the books because there the only thing I'd want.**

"How could we know him so little?" Ginny sighed.

**But enough about that I don't want to be all depressed about Halloween. Everything's so beautiful when it's decorated in the castle and the feast is incredible. Mia wrote to me again yesterday, she got cornered into going to a party with a girl from school who she doesn't really like. **

_**A whole night of pretending to be someone I'm not, they're all fake and girly. **_**Welcome to my world. The only good thing about this Christmas will be that I get to see her. I went down to the feast this evening and Charlie and Bill motioned for me to sit with them.**

"I don't remember this." Charlie said frowning. He looked at Bill but his brother shrugged.

**My heart leapt. I felt included, considered a part of the family even just for tonight. But I should have known it was too good to be true. Sure I sat with them but they spent the evening talking loudly to their friends, not paying me any mind. Every time I started to speak they would interrupt.**

Both of them looked guilty. "We didn't notice." They said.

**Eventually I just gave up. I must've sat in silence for nearly an hour. In the end I just left, my mood ruined, feeling as though I was right back at the Burrow where nobody paid me any attention. I cried myself to sleep for the first time since I came to school. I'm not sure I like Halloween anymore.**

Molly was crying softly, her heart going out to her son.

**24****th**** November 1987 **

**It's Mia's birthday today! She's so lucky, my birthdays not till August 22****nd****. She's twelve now. I sent her a bracelet I made myself. I plaited (Ginny showed me how) **

"I did wonder why he wanted to learn" she said.

**several different pieces of string together and put it in an envelope along with a long letter wishing her a happy birthday. I really hope she likes it.**

"It's the thought that counts" Arthur smiled.

**On the other hand Muggles aren't of age until they're eighteen. Mia's really jealous that we come of age a year earlier. She's been explaining television to me in her letters. Apparently it's a muggle thing that shows talking and moving pictures. She said she'd show it to me over the holidays. I'm quite excited about it. I sent her a wizard photograph of my family and I and she thought it was great. She asked if she could meet them, but I skirted the question. She didn't ask again. She's really clever about stuff like that.**

"Why doesn't he want us to meet her?" George asked.

**I don't want them to find out. For one thing it's illegal to tell a muggle about magic, and even if she could pretend she doesn't know, neither of us are great actors. Most importantly though, they'd tease the hell out of me that my best friend's a girl **_**and**_** a muggle. Why can't you fit in with your own type of people? That's what they'd say. Though it may give Aunt Muriel a heart attack, which is always a plus.**

Nobody even laughed at this, too stunned to realise he was scared to be honest with them for fear of being mocked.

**It's honestly not worth the aggravation. I'll explain it to Mia when I see her it's too complicated for a letter. She said I can meet her parents though. When I panicked she hurriedly assured me that she didn't tell them about magic. I told her I knew that, I was afraid they wouldn't like me. She found this amusing.**

_**They'll like you just as much as I do. You don't give yourself enough credit because your family's systematically destroying your self-esteem.**_** Yet another reason not too introduce them seeing as**** she's likely to want to beat up my brothers. **_**You're a great person and a wonderful friend and my parents will be able to see that.**_

"She ees a lovely person too." Fleur said. Everyone else was too busy trying to sink into the floor.

**I have to admit that I spent the rest of the day in a good mood. Even failing my transfiguration test didn't matter so much anymore. The fact I'd spent the whole week panicking about my average-poor grades and the fact I'm probably never going to amount to anything, disappeared. I really am very lucky to have such a great best friend.**

There was a silence.

"I don't think I can read anymore." Molly said sadly.

Fred grimaced at the book in his hands "Should we stop?"

"No we've gone this far." Charlie said.

"Let's take a break and have lunch first." Arthur said deciding to talk to his wife.

Everyone nodded.

_A/N I picked 24th November for Mia's birthday because it's mine too! Sorry it's been so long but I've been busy:) Review please!_


	7. Chapter 7

After lunch the mood was a bit strained, but everyone decided in the end they would need to keep reading.

"I'll go now." Molly said tentatively. Arthur smiled at her and passed her the diary.

**10****th**** December 1987**

**End of the first term tomorrow. Last day of lessons and then we all pack up and go home. The Christmas holidays are three weeks long. I'm very excited to get home. I can't help the stubborn little twinge of hope, that my younger siblings will be pleased to see me as much as Bill and Charlie, no matter how much I try and push it away. I know better.**

"We were pleased to see him." Molly said sadly.

**I've written to Mia about when we can meet. We've made arrangements for the twelfth. That's going to be the best thing about this holiday. I can't wait to share what I've learnt and she's going to teach me about Shakespeare, whoever he is. **

"He's a muggle playwright." Ginny said. Everyone looked at her.

"What? Hermione told me."

**I'm mentally preparing myself now for whatever Fred and George have cooked up for me during my absence. Fingers crossed it's not too painful.**

**11****th**** December 1987**

**Home at last.**

Everyone sighed remembering the Burrow.

**Everything's covered with a dusting of snow. It definitely gives the Burrow a Christmassy feel. The twins prank wasn't painful in the end, just humiliating. It involved a trip wire and manure. Enough said. I didn't let anyone see me cry. I never do, they'd think me a sissy.**

The twins exchanged a glance of guilt. They didn't even notice their mother's patented glare.

**Mums convinced I'm not eating enough and she's taken to hovering over me at dinner time to make sure I finish my plate. I think she forgets sometimes how much the Weasleys can eat without gaining any weight.**

Everyone chuckled but Fleur who looked slightly jealous.

**Mum and Dad went out after lunch today and I left my book in the kitchen. I was halfway up the stairs before I realized, so I turned around to get it. I paused at the kitchen door just out of sight. All of my other siblings were still there and I caught a few words of an interesting conversation, so I decided to listen.**

"Eavesdropping Percy, were so proud." Fred and George said in unison. Charlie and Ginny laughed, but Bill had frozen in his seat the memory of this particular conversation paralyzing him in horror.

"**Bills the smart one." Ron said**

"**And Charlie's the brave one." Fred and George chimed in.**

"**The twins are the funny ones, Ron's the strategical one." Charlie added.**

"**Ginny's the talented one." Bill said. **

"**What about Percy?" Ron asked. There was a moment of silence and a feeling of dread slowly inched its way up my spine.**

All those who had been present were now frozen just like Bill.

"**Percy's the loser!" Ginny giggled and they all laughed.**

"YOU DID WHAT?" Molly yelled and they cowered in guilt and shame.

**The bottom dropped out of my stomach and my veins turned to ice. I was numb, paralyzed, I literally couldn't move in shock. Then the pain kicked in, waves of agony ripping through my chest. That's how they saw me. That's all I was to them. Chairs scrapped back, they were leaving, and they would know I'd been listening, but I still couldn't move. I was literally drawing blood where I was biting my lip so hard to keep from sobbing.**

There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Heads were bowed in shame and Ginny was actually crying on her mother's shoulder in remorse. Said mother wasn't any better.

**The feeling flooded back into my legs just in time and I bolted up the stairs. I didn't let the tears loose until I reached my room and it was quite some time before they stopped.**

**Loser! Loser! It repeated in my head over and over like a mantra. Taunting me. Tomorrow couldn't come fast enough.**

"We didn't mean for him to hear!" Bill anguished.

"You shouldn't have said it in the first place." Arthur snapped.

"It's my fault." Ginny mumbled.

"No it was all of us. We laughed; we were just as to blame as you." Fred told her.

"We were young and stupid and we didn't mean it." George said.

"Thees was a long time ago." Fleur assured them gently. "I'm sure e is over eet."

**12****th**** December 1987**

**You know you have a good best friend when you have to physically restrain her from marching over to your house and attacking your siblings when you've finished recounting yesterday to her.**

"He should have just let her come." Charlie muttered.

**Of course I didn't start with that story, what a way to greet a friend you haven't seen in over three months by complaining. So we did all the other stuff first, talking about school and exchanging gifts. She got me a book of muggle kid's stories because she was tired of telling me that she'd never heard of Babitty Rabitty. I got her some cool ink that changes colour. She was wearing the bracelet I got her for her birthday.**

"She liked it then" Molly smiled.

**Never took it off apparently which put me in a great mood. Then I'd told her about yesterday.**

"**Let go of me Percy Weasley if you want to keep those fingers unbroken!"**

"**Not unless you promise me to calm down." I said much more bravely than I felt. She could give mum a run for her money with the death glare.**

The younger Weasleys shivered.

**I'd not expected her to react like that. I'd thought she'd just comfort me and then we'd move on, but she surprised me. She does that a lot. She leapt to her feet, eyes sparking with rage and spun round on her heels heading towards the Burrow, muttering death threats under her breath. It took me a moment to react and then I sped after her, having to literally grab her by the arms to stop her. **

The boys looked a bit alarmed at this.

"**If you won't stand up to them then I will." She told me furiously.**

"**I will."She looked at me sceptically. "One day." I added. Her expression softened.**

"**Oh all right." She conceded. We sat down again and I idly wondered if I this was going to happen often. I couldn't help but feel a fuzzy feeling of joy that I had someone to stand up for me.**

"**So tell me about Shakespeare." She smiled this time, frown disappearing and the day got better from there.**

"We should apologise to him." Charlie said.

The others agreed. "When we've finished." Bill proposed.

"Let's not tell him about the diary reading. I like my face the way it is." George muttered. "And that girl scares me."

There were noises of unanimous agreement.

"Who wants to read next?" Molly asked.


	8. Chapter 8

"I think I'm the only one who hasn't read." Charlie said holding out his hand.

**24****th**** December 1987**

**Christmas Eve. The most magical night of the year and muggles have this myth about a fat guy in a suit that travels the globe in one night delivering presents to every child. Bizarre, even wizards couldn't do that in one night.**

"Is he talking about Santa?" Bill asked. Arthur nodded.

"**So then Merlin defeated Morgana and..." I paused in the story for the third time as Mia once more started giggling hysterically.**

**I sighed "What is so funny?"**

"I want to know too!" George exclaimed.

"**I'm sorry" she chuckled "but every time you say Merlin I get this image of a blue fish with a moustache."**

**She laughed again, this time at my bewildered expression. We were sat at the place behind the hill again talking about history.**

"**It's a Disney movie." She explained and I nodded, comprehending. She's told me about movies, they're like plays on television. TV shows are a lot shorter than movies and tell the story over a matter of weeks instead of all at once.**

Everyone was trying to hide their smirks at Arthur's delighted face.

**Disney were a bunch of movies, kids watched growing up. Mia had promised to show them to me today when we went to her house.**

"**We should start with that one." I suggested and she grinned. I was nervous about meeting her parents, and what I was going to talk about with them.**

There was a slight tension in the room about whether Percy could convince them he was muggle.

**It turned out I had no need to be.**

Everyone let out the breath they'd been holding.

**Her parents were really nice. I chatted easily to her Dad, who asked me to call him Kevin, about Shakespeare. I counted my lucky stars Mia had educated me about him. We had a spirited debate about Romeo and Juliet, which is the most depressing story ever. Her mum Julie made cookies and asked me if I was enjoying school. **

"Lovely people." Molly said, silently hoping to meet them one day.

**They were both really nice people and they both interacted with Mia easily. I couldn't help this slight prickle of envy when I watched them laugh together and be a family.**

No-one could say anything to that.

**By the end of the day Mia wasn't the only one who laughed at Merlin's name and I had the tune to "Hakuna Matata" stuck in my head.**

"The what?" Fred asked bemused.

**I got a lot of strange looks at the dinner table. Christmas tomorrow I'm too excited to sleep.**

**25****th**** December 1987**

**I woke up this morning full of excitement, for once in complete agreement with my siblings. We gathered in the living room. Bill got a sneakoscope, Charlie a model of a snitch. They were both thrilled. Then it was my turn. I opened the present and grimaced; another book. They mistook it for a smile and carried on.**

Molly's face fell. "He didn't like it?" Nobody answered.

**About witches in the sixteenth century. Oh well, I mentally sighed, maybe next year. I could always use it for school**.

**Later in the day other family members started arriving, I ducked my head trying not to laugh when I saw Aunt Muriel. I was having trouble forgetting her impromptu dance at Uncle Bilius' birthday.**

Everyone laughed.

**I stopped laughing as I saw her heading my way and quickly ducked out of sight. **

"Smart move." Ginny commented.

**Like that would stop Muriel though. All through dinner, peoples teeth got slowly more sanded down as they tried to stop themselves from speaking. I had to grip the bottom of the table to keep from attacking her when she started on mum's cooking.**

The children growled.

**Then she started on each of us, when she got to me I was just bracing myself for the worst when the unthinkable happened, Fred and George did something that made me like them for once. They set of a dung bomb under her chair. **

"Ahh good times." The twins said.

Molly shook her head disparagingly.

**For the first time in a while I felt like a part of the family. It really touched me that they stopped her from insulting me, it probably wasn't on purpose but I didn't care. I laughed easily with the rest of my siblings at the old witches face.**

Bill beamed at his younger brothers. He felt really protective of Percy.

**Mum was still screaming at them an hour later. She told them they'd be written out of the will. Honestly I really don't think they'll care. I have this feeling they are going end up being well off in their own right when they're older.**

"He's psychic!"Charlie said grinning at the two who were looking pleased Percy had thought of them like that.

**I was still grinning when I went to bed that evening. Then I frowned, what was I going to do when I was older? I'm not particularly good at anything just average at most things and awful at others.**

Arthur frowned at this.

**Silly, I told myself. What a thing to think about on Christmas day. I shook off the thought and clung to the remnants of my good mood.**

"Well that wasn't as bad as the previous reading" Ginny said optimistically.

Her efforts were met with a few smiles.

"Eet ees my turn to read again." Fleur said.

_A/N I was in a good mood today so the chapter wasn't as depressing as some of the others. Please Review!_


	9. Chapter 9

Fleur took the book and started to read.

**27****th**** December 1987**

**Everything's covered in snow. Thick drifts that are perfect for sledging. It's still coming down, albeit slowly and the countryside looks like a Christmas card.**

**Mia took me skating. It was so much fun we slid all the way down our little stream by the hill, clasping hands and laughing at our futile attempts to stay upright.**

"I remember that day it was fun" George chuckled.

**When we reached the lake at the end of the stream, it was breathtaking, transparent diamond sparkling in the sunlight. It was like a dream.**

"**I'll race you to the other side." Mia yelled.**

**She'd already moved off.**

"**Hey that's cheating" I called moving to catch up.**

**It was when she reached the far left of the lake that it happened. The dream became a nightmare. The ice was too thin.**

Everyone gasped in horror.

**I could hear the cracking from several feet away. It seemed to go in slow motion, Mia fell through the glassy surface of the water underneath hitting her head on the sharp edge and disappeared from sight.**

"This is not good." Charlie muttered.

"No s**t!" Fred snapped. It was a testament to how tense they all were that no one scolded him for it.

**I didn't even hesitate. I sprinted across the surface as fast as I could.**

"Don't you dare?" Molly gasped.

**It was like a fire, scalding razor sharp needles on my skin. My lungs were screaming the moment I hit the water. But I didn't notice any of it, all I could see was Mia's form below me, her blonde hair streaming around her like seaweed, a trickle of red forming opaque coluds from the back of her head.**

Ginny was shaking. Bill put an arm around her.

**I couldn't reach her she just seemed to get deeper and deeper no matter how much I reached for her. My muscles were burning in protest. My hand finally encircled around her left wrist and I turned to face upwards. The sun made prisms through the film, but it was begin to be obscured by black spots in my vision. My air was coming out of my mouth in bubbles as I tried to pull us back towards the light. She was too heavy, and she wasn't moving. **_**Dead weight.**_** The phrase drifted through my mind before I could stop it. I fought harder, kicking out with my legs. A scream burst through my lips as we broke through the surface at last.**

Everyone let out their breath.

**Water ran in rivulets down my cheeks and I knew they were mixed with tears. It was then I felt the cold, it seared right through my body, right down to the bones.**

Molly grabbed Arthur's hand.

**I pulled us out of the water as fast as I could. My knees gave way and I collapsed onto the ice beside the hole panting and retching. I crawled over to Mia on my hands and knees. I flipped her over onto her back. I checked her pulse.**

Everyone leant forwards crossing their fingers.

**It was still there strong but threaded. I heard screams behind me. Her parents had been worried when we hadn't come back for too long, so they came looking. The rest of the day was a blur and some hours later I found myself sitting in a hospital waiting room with a blanket over my shoulders. My hair still wet. Julie and Kevin sat next to me. I'd lost track of how many times they'd thanked me. Julie had a hand on my shoulder and we waited patiently to find out what was happening.**

"I do hope she's ok." Charlie said.

"**Mr and Mrs Elliot" the doctor came up to us. Turns out Mia was going to fine, she had a concussion but bed rest and time and she would be fine. **

There was an outbreak of cheering.

**I went in to see her. **

"**Hey I hear your the hero of the hour." She said reaching out for my hand as I sat down next to her.**

"**I suppose so." I said shrugging.**

"I'm so proud of him." said Arthur.

Everyone else agreed.

"**No you really are" she argued "Today you proved you are a Gryffindor. The hat must've seen it, all that courage. You just needed the right circumstances. It was nothing to do with your family at all."**

"Of course it wasn't" Charlie said annoyed.

**I pondered her words all the way home. Maybe I could be brave, sometimes. I didn't tell my family what happened today. They didn't even notice I was gone.**

**28****th**** December 1987**

"Wait a second didn't he get sick around this time?" George asked.

They exchanged nervous glances.

**The next day was strange; I was ever so tired getting up, like my eyes wouldn't stay open. I walked around all day feeling like a sleepwalker. PTSD maybe? Yesterday was pretty traumatic. I didn't realise something was really wrong until the evening. **

**We were all sitting in the living room crowded around the fire, talking. Then Bill said "is anyone else really cold?" there were noises of agreement. Our heating wasn't working, but that wasn't the problem.**

"**Are you joking it's boiling in here?" I said incredulously. It felt like I was in a sauna, it was sweltering and I could feel sweat on my forehead. They all looked at me as though I was mad.**

"**Go and get some fresh air then." My dad suggested concernedly. It was moments like these I knew they loved me.**

"We'll always love you." Molly protested as though he could hear her.

**Sometimes I doubted that they liked me, but I knew they loved me. As I walked to the door I felt really strange, like my brain had detached from my body. I couldn't feel my legs and suddenly the world tilted on its axis and I was staring at the ceiling. I could feel the floor against my back and I saw the faces of my family surrounding me, revolving slowly.**

"Dead scary that was." Fred said.

**Their mouths were moving but no sound came out, I couldn't hear anything. My eyes kept trying to close and slowly my vision was blurring. I gave up the fight to stay conscious.**

**31****st**** December 1987  
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**I spent the next few days drifting in and out of sleep while the fever broke. I must've caught hypothermia, from that day on the ice. It was the weirdest experience, I was hallucinating sometimes. I'm not sure at some points what was a dream and what was real.**

"He was mumbling all sorts of strange things" Ginny remembered.

**Back to school tomorrow, as though nothing had happened. My mum keeps asking if something happened, but I still can't tell her.**

"He's still protecting her." Bill said softly.

"It's getting late." Molly said "Let's have dinner now and go to bed."

Everyone agreed to continue reading tomorrow.

_A/N Sorry it has been so long, I could lie and say I've been really busy but I've just had writers block. Please review._


	10. Chapter 10

Next morning Ginny was up early. She felt guilty about reading her older brothers private thoughts but couldn't convince herself to stop. She waited to a reasonable hour and then woke the others.

"It's my turn to read" Arthur said yawning. His wife handed him the diary.

**3****rd**** January 1988**

_**Dear Percy, **_

_**I'm feeling loads better now and my mum said I can go back to school tomorrow. Not exactly thrilled about that but it's better than being stuck in bed! I'm really sad we didn't get to say goodbye and now we have to wait till Easter to see each other again. I hope you enjoy school more this term and don't take any rubbish from the Slytherins. **_

_**Love Mia.**_

**I must have read this letter a hundred times now. I could probably recite it out loud, I don't know why I keep reading it but there's something different about this one to all the others we'd written.**

"I can't see a difference." Fred said confused.

"I can." His twin said proudly.

**I put it down, there was no point reading it again. Maybe I was just being silly. I was sat in the Gryffindor common room with the rest of my class, herbology had been cancelled due to the weather so we were all just waiting to go down to potions.**

"Eugh potions." Bill shuddered.

"I enjoyed potions." Arthur said.

"Snape wasn't your teacher." Charlie pointed out.

**A whole two hours with a greasy haired bitter man, whose sole purpose in life was too make our lives miserable. Especially those who are rubbish in potions. Sadly that includes me. I'm rubbish at most things, but I'm keeping my grades up through a mammoth amount of studying and lack of sleep. Oliver says I worry too much, but it's ok for him, he's good at other things.**

"So are you." Molly said firmly.

**So it's later that evening and I'm coming in from potions covered in some form of slime.**

There was some slight laughter.

**After dinner and a shower, which were not in that order, I start writing my reply to Mia.**

_**Dear Mia,**_

_**Schools fine don't worry. I've just been avoiding all Slytherins anyway. I'm really glad you're feeling better, and I hope your mum doesn't fuss too much. I managed to be standing right next to an explosion in potions today and ended up with purple goo on my robes, stop laughing at the image, and I can't wait to see you too. **_

_**Percy.**_

"He knows her so well" Molly smiled.

**It was as I was watching the owl flying away into the sunset that I realised what had been different about Mia's letter to me. She'd signed it **_**Love**_**. Why would she do that? I dismissed it instantly. It didn't mean anything.**

"I'm not so sure." Ginny muttered.

**14****th**** February 1988**

**Quidditch match today. Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff, I'm going to watch, not entirely sure why. It usually makes me jealous watching my brother fly.**

Charlie sighed.

**But since he joined the team our house actually has a chance of winning so I'm going to go and support them anyway.**

**Three hours later I really wish I hadn't decided to go. It was freezing, it went on for ages and we lost dismally. Charlie caught the snitch, so we cheered for him anyway but our keeper was so rubbish it didn't make a difference to the final score. Looks like Slytherin are going to win this year too.**

Now Charlie was scowling, Bill patted him on the back sadly.

**I got back to the common room in a bad mood, which increased when I saw all the red and fluffy decorations. Valentine's Day. How could I have forgotten? Oh right, because I'm good at blocking unpleasant things from my memory. **

"What's wrong with Valentine's Day?" Molly looked crestfallen.

Everyone else averted their eyes.

**I went straight up to my room. Oliver was already up there.**

"**Hey abysmal game today huh?"**

"**Yeah, our keeper is awful." I readily agreed.**

"**I know right, even I could do better than him." He commented.**

"**Maybe you should try out next year?" I suggested.**

"**Yeah maybe" he looked thoughtful as he turned to leave.**

"Whoa you mean we actually owe Percy for getting him on the team." George said surprised.

**When he got to the door he stopped and pointed to the bed. "Oh and a letter came for you at breakfast but you left early to watch the match, so I bought it up for you."**

"**Thanks" I called after him. It was from Mia of course. Who else writes to me? Shockingly (take note of the sarcasm) my younger siblings have written to both of my brothers, and yet I haven't had a single one.**

The youngest three in the room looked at their feet.

_**Dear Percy,**_

_**Happy Valentine's Day, if this letter gets to you on time. I hope you're not one of those cheesy saps who actually like this holiday. I actually got two cards today. I know who they're from; neither of them understands the whole anonymous bit yet. Sadly for them I'm not interested. I'm only twelve I have plenty of time. Did you get any cards? How did the Quidditch match go? **_

_**Love Mia**_

**Again with the love thing, it apparently is just how she signs her letters though since she's signed every letter since January the same way. I've started doing it myself. Although something about this letter irked me, jealous that she got cards and I didn't? No, that's petty, that's not it at all. But something about this letter definitely strikes jealousy. But what?**

"I told you he fancied her." Fred said triumphantly.

George smacked him upside the head. "No you didn't, Ginny did."

"And it's my turn to read." Arthur handed his daughter the book.

_A/N First sign of romance possibly. Was it too overdone? _


	11. Chapter 11

Ginny eagerly took the book and flipped to a new page.

**22****nd**** May 1988**

**Oliver's birthday today so we had a mini party in our dorm room after dinner. Being first years means we can't go anywhere to buy gifts but we made our own cards and gave him some money. We then had a pillow fight which lasted until midnight before collapsing exaughsted. **

**It was then as my friends drifted off to sleep and their, rather loud, snores filled the air **

"I knew Oliver was a snorer." George said triumphantly. His twin brother snorted and handed him a galleon.

"I can't believe you two made a bet on that." Arthur said shaking his head.

**that I allowed myself to think back to this afternoon. The prickling of shame inching its way down my spinal cord until it curled up in my intestines. There was this Slytherin boy called David, I don't know his last name, who seems to have taken a severe interest in making my life miserable. He and his **_**gang**_** seem to always know where I am. They knock my books out of my hands; shove me in the corridors, whisper things behind my back and then laugh.**

"Boys are so stupid and immature at zat age." Fleur said annoyed.

"Some of them don't grow out of it either." Ginny said looking pointedly at an innocent looking Fred.

**Surprisingly I'm not actually that bothered. If you don't react to bullies they get bored and move on to someone else. Eleven years with five brothers and a sister, though not all at once, tends to give you a high tolerance for that kind of thing. It still affects me when they do it but they're my family so it hurts more. **

"I really didn't know how much he was singled out." Bill said sadly.

**This is why when I round the corner on the way to Defence class and someone sticks out their foot, I'm gutted to look up and see not one of my regular tormentors but my own brother.**

"What?" Molly demanded.

**In his defence Charlie looked horrified to see that it was me he'd just tripped. His friends sniggered, obviously having just dared him to trip up the next first year he saw and not knowing who I was. I locked eyes with my brother and my cheeks were burning, and to my further embarrassment I felt something hot and wet at the back of my eyelids.**

"Oh Charlie." Arthur admonished.

"I did apologise" he replied looking at his feet.

"**Percy I'm sorry..." he started but I didn't stick around to hear the rest of it. I grabbed my stuff of the floor and took off running. I spent my DADA class trying to get my breathing back under control and by the time the lesson ended you wouldn't have been able to tell anything had happened except for the grazed skin on both palms of my hands.**

Charlie winced as Ginny whacked him upside the head.

**27****th**** May 1988**

**First year exams start today and I don't reckon I've slept since the end of March. I signed up to spend Easter at school because I won't study with my family's constant noise. Mia wrote to me again yesterday telling me not to stop studying no matter how much I hate it. The letter made me smile and gave me extra enthusiasm. **

"Ugh studying" George groaned.

"What would you know about it?" Bill said sceptically.

**As luck would have it potions was my first exam, and as I tried to remember how to make a forgetfulness potion (and trying not to notice the irony of it) Snape was breathing down all of our necks and making it a hundred times harder.**

"He does that every year." Fred said annoyed.

**Walking out of that exam I knew I'd failed it. I couldn't remember what came after wolfsbane. I sighed and lent against the wall down by the shortcut through a tapestry. I was just going to have to study harder for all my other exams. On the bright side after the exams were over we could all take a break for a week until the results came out. **

"I love that week." Charlie grinned.

**I turned to the shortcut and pushed through the tapestry. It was late in the evening and most students had already gone back to their common rooms. It was then that I saw my older brother. This time it was Bill that I was stunned to see. He wasn't alone; I must have stood there for about fifteen seconds watching him kiss a pretty hufflepuff girl the year below him.**

His younger siblings wolf whistled and Fleur scowled as her husband turned scarlet.

"What was her name?" Arthur asked.

"Can't remember." He said sheepishly.

**Eventually the feeling returned to my legs and I backed out of the corridor before either of them noticed me, my face turning the colour of a Gryffindor scarf. I could have quite happily gone my whole life without gaining that mental image. Shuddering, because who really wants to see their brother snogging, I legged it three floors to the common room and instantly began cramming for my Charms exam and when that didn't flush the excruciating image from my mind decided to write to Mia about it. **

**She'd probably find it funny but I'm really fed up with both of my older brother's right now.**

Ginny sniggered and handed the eldest Weasley child the diary.

_A/N Really sorry have had my AS exams this month so have been really busy. I hope this makes up for it._


	12. Chapter 12

Bill took the diary off his sister and turned the page.

**6****th**** June 1988**

**Results came in today. I passed everything but Potions and who cares about that! I wrote to Mia straight away and then to my mum. I'm very pleased with myself but exaughsted by the stress of the exams. Just a few more days until the summer holidays and I can't wait, mostly because it's my birthday in august but also because I'm happy to have finished my first year at school.**

"It ees a good feeling." Fleur said reminiscently. The twins nodded.

"I found that as well. It's like you're on your way towards the important stuff now." Arthur agreed.

**I trudged up to the dormitory to find my roommate Oliver sitting on his bed frowning at his exam results.**

"**How did you do?"**

**He sighed "Ok I guess."**

"**Then what's wrong?" **

**He looked at me speculatively then rolled his eyes and told me about his dad who wanted him to go into the ministry but he wanted to play Quidditch professionally. **

"**Why don't you talk to him about it?" I asked.**

"**I've tried but he won't listen, the most he'll do is let me join the school team."**

"**So do that and then when the time comes you'll be an adult and capable of making your own choices."**

**He smiled wryly and thanked me for listening anyway and then left to go meet his friends. **

"Poor Oliver." Charlie said.

**I stayed in the dorm lying on my bed and thought about that conversation. Would my own parents force me into something I didn't want to do? I didn't think they would but this type of thinking always drifted off into the same direction. What was I going to do when I grew up? I could think of nothing and my typically and depressingly average grades were no help.**

"It's harder to be average at everything than really good at one thing?" said Ginny "You blend into the background all the time."

**I knew one thing for sure, even if I hated every single day of my job I wouldn't let any family of mine suffer and have to scrape by. I wasn't going to be selfish; I'll do what I **_**need **_**to do to make sure they never have a childhood like mine. The thing is I've done it, be poor I mean and it sucks. I've always resented my father a little for staying in the job he loves, I know that's awful but sometimes you have to sacrifice things for those you love.**

The younger Weasley's all averted their eyes at this but beside that no one made any sign that they'd heard what had been said.

**Even if I end up working for something menial like the ministry. **

"He hates the ministry?" Bill interrupted himself to say.

Everyone else looked pretty stunned as well.

**8****th**** June 1988**

**So that's it, first year finally over. Back home shut in my room, conceivably for a few weeks at least until Mia's school finishes on the 23****rd****. I'm avoiding my family at the moment, Bill and Charlie's grades were obviously better than mine. Geeks.**

The two mentioned found that amusing.

**Of course mum made me tell everyone what I got, and in an attempt to be nice they told me it didn't matter that I didn't do as well, there was always next year. "I KNOW!" I wanted to scream by the end. To be honest I was quite pleased with my grades, until they started to point it out. There goes my happy buzz. Real nice way to start the summer. **

Molly sighed.

**Oh well focus on the positives. It's only a just over two months till my birthday. Twelve at last. **

Arthur winced remembering something the others didn't.

**Uncle Bilius came to visit yesterday. I liked him a lot. He loved telling stories. Funny, scary anything he could come up with. Towards the end he told us of the omen of death. The Grim, a big black red eyed demon dog. I snorted too quiet for anyone to hear. I'm a realist at heart. Then his voice got lower and we all had to lean in to listen.**

"**You never know when the Grim is going to appear. But today as I was leaving the house, I saw a dog. It was humongous, black as night and it fixed me in its sights from across the road, with its glowing scarlet eyes."**

**The atmosphere had grown still and we all jumped as he clapped his hands and roared with laughter. He made his excuses about being a superstitious old man and said his goodbyes.**

Several people looked at their feet and tried to hide a flash of grief.

**But I saw he was more upset than he was letting on. Today I wished I'd paid more attention to his story, and not dismissed it as nonsense. Dad sat us down this morning and told us Uncle Bilius had died of a heart attack in the night.**

**The house was silent for the rest of the day.**

Bill paused and then put the book down. No one spoke for a few minutes, honouring the dead man. Then George picked up the book and turned the page.

"Wait" Ginny said. They all looked at her.

"Are we sure we want to continue, I mean this is his private thoughts and...well they can be brutally honest."

They knew she was referring to the comments about their situation involving money.

"We knew that when we started Gin." Charlie said softly "It's a bit late too stop now."

She nodded appeased for the moment and George began a new page.


	13. Chapter 13

**24****th**** June 1988 **

"**Over my dead body." I said firmly.**

"He sure knows how to make us confused." Fred chuckled.

"**Chicken." Mia muttered. It was the first day since she broke up from school and we'd gone into town. It was boiling hot, typical June. **

"**You can call me what you want, I'm not getting on that thing." I continued to glare at the monstrosity that Mia had called a rollercoaster. It was huge easily 100 feet and the purpose of it was to sit in little carriages and go barrelling around a metal track at high speed.**

"Cool." The Weasley boys and Ginny said in unison.

**She fixed me with a look that would give my mum a run for her money. Five minutes later I was sat in the death machine with my hands gripped on the safety bar so tightly my knuckles were turning white.**

"Didn't stand a chance against the look." Charlie grinned. However he soon changed that expression when Molly fixed him with one of hers.

**It was very disorienting. Everyone was yelling, including me as the little carts flew around the track. It reminded me of Gringotts except the track were thrown about and pulled up and pushed down and at one point I'm sure I was upside down.**

"I want to go on one." George said immediately. Fred nodded but Molly and Fleur both shuddered.

**I got off with my knees shaking and went to find a place to sit down. **

"**What did you think?" Mia said looked exhilarated. I had to admit it gave you a hell of an adrenalin rush but so not worth it.**

"**Never again." I'm pretty sure I was faintly green by this point. **

They all laughed slightly.

**She patted my arm in a comforting manner and didn't force me to go on another roller coaster for the rest of the day. We spent a fun afternoon wandering around the annual fair. Playing stall games, eating candyfloss, laughing, generally having a great time. One of the best days of my life.**

Molly smiled.

**We said goodbye just before we reached my house and I watched her for a while as she made her way over the hill just to make sure she was ok. Then I opened the door and went into the kitchen. It was empty except for Bill. He looked up at me and frowned.**

"Why?" Arthur asked. Bill shrugged.

"**Did you just come in?" he asked. I nodded at him. "Huh we thought you were in your room when you didn't come down for lunch." **

**I waited to see if he was going to say more but he went back to his essay. I rolled my eyes at the idea that he was interested in where I'd been.**

Nobody looked at each other.

**I had told mum this morning that I was going out but she had been distracted soon after when the twins came in covered in what smelt like horse dung.**

**21****st**** August 1988**

**Mia's invited round to hers because it's my birthday tomorrow and since I have to spend the actual day with my family I'm going to hers today instead. Her parents insisted on making dinner. Apparently because I spend so much time there they consider me family. At least that's what Mia said, but I have trouble with the idea.**

"Why I think it's sweet." Ginny said.

**I think it's because I don't feel like a part of my own family so it makes me uncomfortable to be considered a part of someone else's. Happy, but vaguely uncomfortable and maybe a little sad. **

No-one spoke, but Molly looked devastated.

**Anyway at 2 pm this afternoon I made my way over the hill behind my house and walked the five minutes to her front door. Julie opened the door. **

"**Percy!" I tried not to let it bother me that she looked happier to see me than my mum had in a long time. I let Julie hug me and tried to keep a smile on my face for Mia's sake. The girl herself came running down the stairs to greet me with one of her exuberant hugs. **

"**Sorry about this." She whispered. I looked at her confused. She led me into the living room where a strict looking elderly woman was sat.**

"Reminds me of Professor McGonagall." Charlie smiled.

**She got to her feet and looked at me critically then held out her hand. "Lucy Elliot, Amelia's grandmother." I shook the offered hand and smiled at her politely. "I wanted to meet the young man my granddaughters told me so much about.**

**When Kevin interrupted to tell us dinner was ready and everyone headed to the dining room. I hung back and caught Mia by the hand. I glanced at her questioningly. **

"**She insisted on meeting you. No-one says no to my Gran." My concern must have shown on my face because she hurried to reassure me. "She's just overprotective, I'm her only grandchild so she worries but she's lovely once she gets to know you. Just be you and she'll love you as much as we do."**

"Do you think he noticed?" Bill asked. Charlie shook his head."

"Noticed what?" Fred asked. The older two said nothing.

**I frowned before taking a deep breath and following her to join her family. Surprisingly Mia was right and once she'd asked me a few general questions Lucy warmed up to me considerably and we had a very nice conversation. She was apparently satisfied that I wasn't going to hurt her granddaughter in any way.**

"Of course he wouldn't." Ginny said.

**August 22****nd**** 1988**

**I'm twelve at last! I hate being born in the summer; everyone in my year is older than me. I mean Mia will be turning thirteen in three months. She's almost an entire year older than me and it's really irritating!**

**I made my way downstairs, still in my pyjamas. My family were all in the kitchen talking loudly. "Hey Perce we're all going to play Quidditch behind the house, you want to join?" Charlie asked over the din.**

"**No thanks." I sat down at the table and waited for someone to wish me a happy birthday.**

**I was still waiting at six o'clock this evening. **

Several mouths dropped open. "We forgot?" George said stunned. Molly started to cry.

**That was it. I've had enough. I can't keep expecting them to stop hurting me. It's never going to change. But this was the first time that I got angry instead of upset. Real proper anger, white hot blood boiling rage.**

Arthur frowned.

**I forced myself to remain calm; I imagined the anger as the inside of a volcano and made it go cold and hard instead. I'm just afraid that I'm not always going to be able to do that, what if one day I snap instead and I lose them altogether.**

George finished reading and looked up. "Do you think that's it? Do you think we pushed him too hard and he finally snapped?"

Nobody knew what to say and eventually Fred held out his hand for the diary.

_A/N Sorry it's been too long I've had exam revision, driving tests and I'm starting a new job. Review please._


	14. Chapter 14

**August 23****rd**** 1988**

**Ok so I should have known they wouldn't have forgotten my birthday completely. I mean they aren't totally heartless, just unobservant. A fact I realised today when I came downstairs and they all sang Happy Birthday.**

"Oh so we just got the date wrong?" Arthur said relieved.

"That's still not much better Dad." Charlie said gloomily.

**I had to bite my tongue (literally) to keep from saying, or more likely shouting, "It was yesterday!" I spent the rest of the day trying to pretend that it didn't matter or that they were sorry they'd forgotten yesterday. Sadly none of them seemed to realise that they were off by a day and I had in fact turned twelve without them realising.**

Molly cringed.

**I could feel my eyes prickling some moments before reminding myself I had decided not to care anymore and blinking them away furiously. I'm not a baby anymore, I need to grow up. So in the spirit of maturity I say nothing and tell myself they're forgiven because they've obviously been busy and it's not like they would have forgotten on purpose.**

"Of course we wouldn't." Bill said outraged that they'd let it get this far.

"We still forgot, I wouldn't have forgiven us." Ginny argued.

**My heart is still whispering mutinously that I'm wrong but I ignored it. I have been doing that a lot lately. I take advantage of the attention I'm being given for once, who knows when I'm going to be able to get it again, most likely next year when I turn thirteen, although that depends on whether they remember that one at all.**

Everyone had to look at each other to see if they had indeed forgotten another birthday.

**August 25****th**** 1988**

**Mia is not as forgiving as I am, in fact if this was a cartoon I'm convinced that she would have smoke coming out of her ears.**

"What is a cartoon?" Arthur asked eagerly.

"It doesn't say." Fred told him and his face fell.

**She's still fuming about ten minutes after I told her and her voice is shaking so much it's a wonder she can construct a sentence. I tell her I've decided not to care anymore and the anger dissipates replaced by sadness, her wide hazel eyes filling with sorrow and pity.**

"**You should never let them make you feel like you don't have to care." She said taking my hand.**

**I'm suddenly irrationally angry, at her, at them, at all of it. Apparently the last few days have been too much to handle with me locking all my feelings away and I snap.**

"**What would you know, you with your perfect family who pay you as much attention as you want. You don't know anything about me, about my life or what it feels like to be talentless even in a magical world you're just a..." I cut myself off appalled at myself.**

**She didn't look offended, she didn't look sad. She never cries. She steeled herself for a fight.**

"**I'm just a what?" She asked her voice taking on a dangerous bite. "Go on say it. I'm just a **_**muggle."**_** She hissed the word with contempt.**

**My face floods with shame and I flinch from the venom in her tone. I can't take back what I have said and neither can she. We have never fought before.**

"No don't push her away Percy." Molly was aghast.

"He needs her." Fleur agreed.

"**Why don't you come and find me when you've grown up." And with that she leaves, leaves me standing on the hill, next to a stream, the very place where she first offered me her hand and I do nothing but watch her walk away.**

**The tears break free that night.**

**August 31****st**** 1988**

**I'm leaving tomorrow back to school to start my second year. I haven't spoken to Mia since that day. I wouldn't know what to say. I've remained locked in my room for the most part, sometimes crying, sometimes throwing things at the walls, but now I just feel numb.**

"I thought he seemed withdrawn, I just thought he was anxious about going back to school." George said sadly.

**Have I lost her for good? Will she ever speak to me again? I know I can't just sit here, but it's getting dark and there's no way I can get out of the house without being noticed now. It's that moment where I remember that the porch roof is only slightly to the left under my bedroom window.**

"He's going to sneak out?" Ginny said incredulously. Fred and George were doing passable impressions of goldfish.

**I run over to it as fast as I can and prop the window open. I look out at the ground and then realise that's a bad idea with my fear of heights and all. So I close my eyes and lower myself onto the porch roof, and inch down it carefully till I'm at the edge. The drop isn't so bad and I make a mental note of this escape route.**

"Awesome." Bill said quietly enough that his parents didn't hear him.

**Then I take off running in the direction towards Mia's house. I have to make it up to her; I don't care what it takes. I still don't know what to say but I'll start with sorry and cross my fingers.**

"The entry stops there." Fred announced.

"Well hand it over then" his mother said eager to keep reading.

_A/N Ta da. I said I would update this week. Sorry for the wait but college is over now so expect updates to be much faster over the summer. Please read my other Harry Potter story "Random Acts of Kindness" for I fear it has been lost in the mound of fics. Plus if anyone is a peeved with FF as I am over their new changes please tell me how to complain._


	15. Chapter 15

Molly began to read immediately.

**September 1****st**** 1988**

**Ok so I gave up trying to write last night, I was so tired by the time I got back from Mia's. I'm writing this on the train to school now.**

**When I got to her house I wasn't sure how to talk to her. It was night and everyone was obviously asleep. So I was stood there in the dark like an idiot and cursing myself for not thinking this through better.**

"**Percy?"**

**I jumped about a foot in the air.**

The twins valiantly attempted to stifle their laughter.

**She was standing behind me with a small smile. She hadn't been able to sleep either and had been looking out her window luckily for me. We both stood there in awkward silence and then started to speak at the same time.**

"**Sorry..."**

"**I didn't..."**

**We stopped and after a moment started to laugh at our own stupidity. She moved first after that and embraced me in a hug. **

"Well at least zey made up." Fleur said smiling.

**By the time I got home that night it was very late and I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow, only to be woken up a few hours later by my shrieking mother telling us we were late. **_**Again.**_

Molly blushed.

**The sorting was dull, the new first years all looked terrified bar one curly haired Ravenclaw who caught my eye and grinned while she was under the hat.**

"Is that the future girlfriend?" Arthur asked.

**September 15****th**** 1988**

**The first few weeks back have been ok so far. It's too early in the school year to be failing anything yet although Potions still fills us all with dread.**

"Find me someone who doesn't feel like that." Charlie chuckled.

**I have resolved to work harder this year. If I can't do anything else then I will at least come out of this school with good enough grades to have more career options than anyone expects of me.**

Bill frowned; he was really beginning to hate how unobservant he'd been to his second little brother.

**Mia's written a few times but she's busy at school as well. Her family has invited me to go skiing with them this Christmas and I'd give anything to go it sounds like it'd be the best Christmas ever, but I'd have to tell my parents about her and they probably wouldn't let me go anyway.**

"Of course we would." Arthur murmured "It's just that we don't even know these people."

**Although I could always go and not tell them, I mean they hardly notice when I'm there anyway. I could say I've decided to stay here for Christmas, tell the teachers I'm going home, avoid my brothers on the train and get Mia's parents to pick me up from King's Cross. **

"He's diabolical." Fred said in awe.

"We underestimated him." George agreed.

Everyone else was too busy gaping at the diary to say much at all.

**Nah that's insane, it would never work. It would be crazy to even try.**

"I should think so!" Molly shouted having found her voice.

"I'm pretty sure he did stay at school one Christmas, but I can't remember for the life of me if it was this one." Charlie whispered to Ginny, who had to stifle a laugh.

**October 31****st**** 1988**

**Halloween was much more fun this year, I sat with my housemates and we exchanged jokes and stuffed ourselves silly until very late. I feel as though I've become slightly less withdrawn when I'm at school most likely because I'm not overpowered by six other people all clamouring for attention. I've given up trying, my siblings are far more outgoing anyway and I'm never heard when I do speak.**

Bill frowned again. Everyone else just looked down.

**I wrote to Mia about my completely lunatic Christmas plan and unsurprisingly she thought it was a great idea and told me I was a genius. She's spent the past month or so trying to convince me to try. I'm not so sure but I suppose you only live once and since Fred and George start next year this might be my only chance. They can smell trouble a mile away.**

Molly sighed.

**People have started accusing me of being boring because I prefer books to people most of the time but the truth is I'm just not very good at the whole socialising thing. I take some smugness in the fact that when they think I'm doing homework I'm actually writing letters to Mia. **

"I always did think he did more work than was set." Ginny said thoughtfully.

**I'm in bed now and I'm still not sure about Christmas but I've still got time to think about it.**

"Merlin I hope that he does do it, I want to see mum blow a fuse at him for the first time ever." Fred muttered to his twin.

"That's the end, whose turn is it to read now?" Molly asked.

"It's my turn again." Charlie said eager to see what Percy would do.


	16. Chapter 16

Charlie read on with anticipation.

**24****th**** November 1988**

**Mia's thirteenth birthday at last, I've been planning what to get her for ages and this year it was easy. I sent her a long letter the day before yesterday with congratulations in it and even wrote out the Happy Birthday song because I'm not there to actually sing it. **

"Cheesy, but cute!" Ginny said with a grin.

**In the envelope wrapped up in tissue paper is her gift. This year I got her a silver necklace with an owl on it because we spent the summer laughing how our relationship was best represented by all the letters we send to each other. I hope she likes it but I imagine she will because she likes that sort of thing. **

**I still haven't made up my mind about what to do for Christmas but I must say that I am increasingly tempted to go skiing with Mia and her family. I mean mine will just ignore me anyway and the presents will be there when I get back. Selfish as I'm sounding now I just want one Christmas where I feel included and not just a figure in the background.**

Fred and George groaned desperate to find out if he actually did it.

"Hurry up Charlie" they complained.

**I'm actually sitting in History of Magic now so I should be paying attention not writing in here but I can't bring myself to care. I've been so busy lately I haven't had a spare minute to write anything in almost a month. Besides it's not like Binns will notice.**

Fleur motioned Charlie to read on quickly when she saw Molly start to turn red.

**26****th**** November 1988**

**Got this letter back from Mia today:**

_**Dear Perce,**_

_**Oh my god! I love my present so much! You are the best friend ever I'm so going to have to work hard on your gift this year to make us even! The symbolism was perfect.**_

_**My birthday was great fun, we had the whole family over, extended and all, for lunch and my parents took me out to a really nice restaurant for dinner. The really want to know if you're coming this Christmas so they can book tickets and such. I really hope you come otherwise I won't get to see you this year.**_

_**How are your classes going?**_

_**Love Mia**_

"I can't believe she's encouraging him into that crazy plan" Molly fumed.

**I knew she'd like it, just proves how well we know each other, and all the exclamation points made me laugh. She's right about Christmas though I won't see her if I stay home. You know what I'm going to do it! Why not? There's no reason I shouldn't go, except my mother would kill me, but if everything goes according to plan then she'll never know.**

**I'm going to write home now and tell them I want to stay in school this year to study (ha what a joke) and then write to Mia and get her to tell Julie that I've been given permission to go.**

"YES!" Fred, George, Bill, Charlie and Ginny all cried but it went unheard due to their mother's shriek of fury.

"He is so dead the next time I see him" she seethed.

**17****th**** December 1988**

**Today's the day. My palms are sweating so hard and my heart is beating at a 100 miles per hour. I have to successfully sneak both on and off the Hogwarts express without any members of my family seeing me. I did not sign the school sheet to say I was staying there and I told my family I wasn't going home. Then at the end of the holiday I'm going to have to get back to the train station earlier than anyone else to avoid being seen again.**

**So many things could go wrong right now. This is complete lunacy, why did I agree to this? I should just tell my parents I changed my mind and go home.**

"Yes do that" Arthur said looking at his wife warily.

**No, I can't chicken out now, Mia would be annoyed and they've paid for my ticket. Deep breaths. Here I go.**

**...**

**I did it! I'm currently sat in the Eliot's car on the way to France. Were taking the ferry, I'm excited because I've never been on a boat before. Not a real one anyway, the little first year ones don't count. Mia and I are sat in the back of the car and we've spent the last hour and a half complaining at the classical music her dad's got playing. She's fallen asleep now and I'm trying to write this in the dark. We won the battle of the music in the end and pop songs are now playing instead.**

**I think I'm going to go to sleep now too.**

"I wish I could go to France." Ginny muttered.

**18****th**** December 1988**

**We are here! I'm in another country, high in the mountains, and there's snow everywhere. I've never seen so much off it**

"**Are we there yet?" Mia asked again and I laughed at her enthusiasm. I'm excited to but also a little anxious. Sport has never really been my thing and sliding down a mountain with nothing but strips of wood on my feet does not invite confidence. Then again the only sport I've ever tried is Quidditch and at least this means I remain on the ground.**

**Oh were pulling up to the resort now.**

**...**

**I needn't have worried, skiing is great fun. We took it easy for our first time and Mia's parents taught us what to do because they've been before. It's not that hard actually. All you have to do is slide across the slope in a zigzag type pattern to maintain your speed and when you want to stop just point the skis in an upside down V shape.**

**The best part though is how fast you go and with the wind in your hair, even though it's absolutely freezing like -23 degrees, it's still one of the most enjoyable feelings I've ever had. **

"Awesome" Charlie said "I never knew he had it in him."

"Eet is my turn again." Fleur said and he handed her the book eager to know what happened next.

_A/N I can't apologise enough for the delay, but I promise I'm not abandoning this story. I've benn busy with university applications and if you know how stressful that is then I hope you understand:)_


	17. Chapter 17

**25****th**** December 1988**

**Christmas at last and I have no shame (even though I probably should) in admitting that it's my favourite one so far. Woke up at 6 am which is ridiculously early, I'm so not a morning person, but Mia tends to get overexcited about things. Christmas being her favourite holiday means she was up as soon as she was awake and dancing around making a racket, like Tigger on sugar.**

"Who?" Ginny asked.

Everyone else just shrugged.

**When I'd managed to calm her down slightly, mainly by lobbing my pillow at her head, and got her to wait an hour before we woke her parents up at a more reasonable hour. We all congregated around the living area in our pyjamas and dressing gowns and exchanged presents. Julie and Kevin had gotten me a copy of Macbeth which I'd mentioned I wanted to read. It has witches in it, which will be interesting, and I can see how a muggle might portray us.**

**I got them a Beethoven CD which Kevin said he'd been wanting. Mia got a new watch from her parents and I gave her a copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula because she'd worn out her last copy. Terrible representation of vampires, which I'd, explained to her, but she loves the book anyway. I'm expecting her to make me read it at some point this holiday.**

"I've never heard of Dracula?" Fred asked.

"It's fiction moron." Charlie smirked. His brother threw a cushion at him.

**Then Mia gave me her present. I couldn't help but smile, she'd continued with the theme I set for her birthday. Upon a fine piece of black cord hung a wooden carving of an owl. It was made of a dark wood like oak perhaps and I put it on straight away touched that she'd felt the same way about it as I did. It was our metaphor. **

**We spent the rest of the day on the slopes; I'm getting pretty good actually didn't fall over once today and I've moved onto the intermediate courses. Much better than flying (shudder).**

"Lunatic." George muttered but quickly shut up at his mother's glare.

**31****st**** December 1988**

**Last time I'll ever write 1988. New Years Eve at last. This year's resolution. Stop being treated like a doormat and stand up for myself. Maybe I really will this time but then again I've been making the same resolution each year since I was five. Hmm well I'll happen eventually. Knowing me it'll be far from now but highly explosive. I should really stop bottling things up though I have to admit this diary and Mia have helped a lot in the past year or so. Also I should really stop biting my fingernails.**

"Well he kept the first resolution, eventually." Arthur said sadly.

"Still bites his fingernails though." Ginny grinned.

"I wonder if it would've made a difference if he'd done it that year instead." Bill wondered.

**I haven't asked what Mia's resolutions are because she thinks they're stupid and make us feel inadequate when we never get them done.**

**Time for the countdown: **

**10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...**

**1st January 1989**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**And maybe this one really will be. Should probably go to bed now seeing as we leave later today, back to England and unfortunately the rain that comes hand in hand with it.**

**...**

**Term starts on the second so I'm staying at Mia's house tonight. To avoid suspicion we've told her parents that mine are out of town and they've graciously agreed to take me to Kings Cross tomorrow. Phew. Hopefully I should escape from this whole ordeal unscathed with my mother none the wiser. I'll just have to get there early and sit right at the back because they're always late.**

"If only she hadn't found the diary." Fred whispered in his twin's ear. "It would have made him a legend."

"I think he qualifies for getting away with it for all this time." George muttered back.

**I'm not entirely sure when I started separating the Eliot's and I as us, and my family as them. Interesting. **

**Mia and I decide to rewatch the best Disney film ever, or at least our favourite one, Peter Pan. I love the idea that there's a magical place far from here where children never have to grow up.**

"That would be awesome." Charlie laughed.

**Plus the crocodile's just awesome. We stay up as long as we can and manage to find time to watch Alice in Wonderland as well, which is hysterically ridiculous. I'm so not looking forward to school tomorrow. If I make it there alive that is. Back to Potions and homework and stupid rain. Sigh. At least I only have to make it to Easter.**

**2****nd**** January 1989**

**So far so good. Made it onto the train in one piece now just to not be seen by one of my siblings, who would sell me out in a heartbeat. Although to be fair they may just look straight through me as is the norm in our household.**

**Speak of the Devil and he shall appear as at the very moment I write those words I hear Charlie passing the compartment door in conversation with Bill. Obviously I eavesdrop, like the good little rebel I seem to be turning into.**

"I'm seriously considering admitting he's related to us." George said in awe.

"**Why'd Percy stay in school anyway?" Charlie was asking.**

"**Who knows, probably wanted to spend it studying, bet he didn't do anything fun over Christmas at all" my eldest brother answered.**

**Oh Bill I think, as I stifle a laugh, if only you knew.**

"Arthur I think eet is your turn." Fleur said.

"Thank you Fleur" he said as she handed him the diary.

_A/N: An update, can it possibly be? I know, I know it's been ages and I'm an awful updater. If I could I'd spend all day on Fanfiction but sadly real life has this thing where it gets in the way. Either way my applications are almost done and I'll try to update more often. Probably still won't but hey I'm trying :)_


	18. Chapter 18

Molly interrupted before Arthur could start reading.

"It's almost midnight; we've been reading all day."

"Whoa, I didn't even notice." George said surprised. "Might as well go to bed and read more tomorrow, there's still plenty more to go.

It was true they weren't even a quarter of the way through the book. Everyone said goodnight and hurried off to bed, keen to wake up the next day.

"Ok then." Arthur said as the reconvened the next day before clearing his throat and starting to read.

**13th January 1989**

**End of the second week back and I already can't wait until Easter. Our exams aren't until June and they're not even important ones like O.W.L's or N.E.W.T's which are actually pretty stupid acronyms now that I've mentioned it. I haven't even found the time to write to Mia since I've been back to school; I'll have to do it later before she gets annoyed.**

**Gryffindor common room is abuzz with excitement the second Quidditch match of the year is next week. Oliver can't wait and I try with great difficulty not to roll my eyes every time he attempts to engage me in conversation over the stupid game. I have nothing against sport but I prefer ones where my feet remain on the ground. **

"Fair enough I suppose." Ginny smiled.

**Muggles have a wide variety of them; I can't even begin to remember them all, though football looks like fun. Wizards tend to just play Quidditch which is an interesting sport but don't they get bored after a while?**

**I'm writing this in history of magic now. I know I should be paying attention but really this is only second year and Binns is the most boring individual on the planet plus no one else is listening either. I'm pretty sure half of them are actually sleeping.**

Molly raised an eyebrow as all her children grinned sheepishly.

**Might as well write out my letter to Mia.**

_**Mia,**_

_**I plead for forgiveness; I have had so much homework I haven't managed to write yet.**_

_**You are so lucky you don't have this guy for a teacher. For one thing he's dead and he still manages to be completely uninteresting. I can see people drooling and he hasn't even noticed. Also I have had that song in my head for almost two weeks and I can't for the life of me remember what it's called? You know the one; it was on the radio every five minutes on the way back from France.**_

_**Haven't taken off my owl pendant yet. Oliver asked me if I got it from my parent's and I was hard pressed not to laugh my head off.**_

_**Love Percy.**_

Molly and Arthur looked confused.

**That ought to appease her for the time being. But seriously I don't remember the last thing my parents bought me that I actually found a use for that doesn't involve schoolwork, let alone something I would actually enjoy.**

**I found my present when I got back to my dorm after Christmas, having managed to sneak past my brothers I might add, and there was the usual jumper and fudge along with this rather strange potions book. I don't even like potions. I just hide random bits of paper in it that I've doodled all over. **

**I really want to learn how to play the guitar; I might do that this summer. **

"He'll be getting a tattoo next." Charlie laughed.

**I'm really into rock music at the moment and me and Mia spent most of our holiday when not on the slopes singing along very loudly to the radio. She says I've got a really nice voice but I think she was just being kind.**

"Has anyone ever actually heard him sing?" Bill asked. But everyone shook their heads. "Maybe he can actually sing then."

**Oliver caught me writing in this diary the day we got back and he asked me what it was. I told him homework but then again I'm way too embarrassed to admit it's a diary. Only Mia knows what it is and the one time I let her read it she burst into to tears for some bizarre reason so I haven't let her near it again. **

**God forbid my family ever find out. Is it possible to spontaneously combust in shame? **

**Oh there goes the bell. Thank Merlin for that. Off to transfiguration after lunch so I'll actually have to pay attention. Hopefully I won't leave as much time between entries as I did this time.**

"Perhaps telling him that we actually read this is not such a great idea." Arthur said.

"Probably not."Fred agreed. "Whose turn is it to read now?"

Ginny took the book from her father and turned the page.

_A/N I still can't believe I've actually written something. Sorry for leaving it so long again but we all know how bad I am at updating. In all fairness I had exams last month and I'm generally lazy anyway. I won't make any promises as to when my next update will be but I'll try to be more frequent:) _


	19. Chapter 19

**16****th**** January 1989**

**Got my reply from Mia today.**

_**Hey Perce,**_

_**Hmmm I suppose I will forgive you for taking so long. I've had tons of work too! Seriously what is it with teachers, do they not realise we need to sleep?**_

The twins chuckled quietly.

_**I can't believe you have forgotten the title of that song, we only heard it fifty million times. It was Don't Stop Believing by Journey. Such a great song. Plus you can sing really well. Maybe we should learn how to play instruments and form a band.**_

**I snorted at this because she had to be joking. Although that would be really cool...**

Bill raised his eyebrows.

_**Anyway missing you already, why is the school year so long again?**_

_**Love Mia**_

**Her last question made me laugh. Why indeed?**

"Agreed" most of the younger readers said while their parents rolled their eyes.

**20th January 1989**

**There has to be a faster way to do homework. It literally takes me two hours to do my Charms and that's definitely the subject I find easiest. Teachers are clearly sadistic individuals who have no lives of our own and thus only have torturing us to keep them happy.**

**Yeah ok maybe I'm ranting a little but I'm tired! It's almost midnight and I'm not even done yet! **

**Maybe I'll finish it tomorrow...**

"He's not seriously considering not handing in some homework is he?" Ginny asked in disbelief before shaking her head.

**Sleep here I come.**

**1****st**** February 1989**

**Ugh it's only February. Still such a long wait for Easter. Gryffindor won their most recent Quidditch match and I have to suppress rolling my eyes every time people congratulate my brother. The match was a week ago, get over it. **

George chuckled at the look on his brother's face.

**Oliver's caught up in the excitement as well so I get no support in my dorm. Mia understands. She is genuinely bemused at the idea of a sport played entirely in the air. **

"**Isn't that ridiculously dangerous, what if someone falls off?" She asked. At least in muggle sport they keep their feet on the ground. I think there is even a game that's played entirely by using your feet. Now that I'd like to see.**

"Huh me too." Charlie muttered.

**I'm a lot angrier lately. Maybe it's hormones. However I did get an E on my most recent Charms essay. Hah take that everyone who thought I wasn't good enough. This has definitely improved my spirits perhaps if I try hard enough I will actually make something of my life and in twenty years when people speak of my family and all the things my talented brothers have accomplished maybe I won't be lost somewhere in the mix.**

**Though how anyone is supposed to want to improve their potions grade with Snape breathing down their neck is utterly beyond me.**

There was a lot of laughter at this.

**I have also been giving a lot of thought to Mia's band idea. Perhaps the idea isn't totally ridiculous and who knows if I really am any good at it then I'll pursue a career in that instead of some stuffy job at the Ministry.**

**Who knows? Maybe I'm going crazy. As long as I don't end up like Muriel then I can live with that.**

**14****th**** February 1989**

**Valentine's Day. Again. There is pink everywhere, I think I'm going to hurl. Plus the only person who'll ever send me a card is Mia. We made a pact to send each other one every year so that we always get at least one.**

"Ow sweet." Fleur cooed while Mrs Weasley beamed.

**Though to be honest that's probably more for my benefit than hers, she'll never admit it though. Only thirteen and she already turns heads in the village whenever we slope off down there. It's just going to get worse as we get older.**

**I just don't understand why it ticks me off so much?**

Ginny rolled her eyes.

**Oh great here comes Bill, with his usual crowd of admirers and yep there's Charlie too. Apparently, according to the local gossip my brothers are considered attractive. I'd better scarper before I start laughing my head off.**

The twins snorted at the eldest two Weasleys affronted looks.

**...**

**I thought I could escape the awful connotations of Valentine's Day by hiding in my dorm but no. My roommates have decided to have a conversation about which girls they fancy. Which you know is fair enough, they are teenage boys. But why does it have to include me? I know absolutely squat about girls.**

**So when Oliver had exhausted his stream off information on this Ravenclaw he really liked I thought it might be over (yeah because I'm that lucky), and then Matt turns to me and asks "Have you got a girlfriend Percy?"**

**What I should have done was laughed it off and said there was nobody that I fancied. Sadly I did not think of this at the time and my face was turning red very rapidly and I said the only thing that came to mind.**

"**Uh sure."**

"Ah temporary insanity, we've all been there." Fred said nodding.

**Like they'd let me get away with just saying that. They wanted to know everything about her so they could spy on us at school. Barely concealing my horror, but I couldn't very well tell them I lied, so I then told them she was a muggle and her name was Mia.**

**Said person by the way is most likely going to kill me. However Matt and Oliver seemed satisfied and went to bed. Small mercies. **

**What the hell do I do now?**

"I'm tired now." Ginny complained. "It's your turn Bill."

Her brother grinned eagerly and turned the page.

_A/N Finally found a free time slot to update. I suck I know but I have exams next month so don't expect another update until late June at the earliest. And yes I did use Don't Stop Believing as the rock song but in all fairness I know very little about eighties music so I'm doing the best I can. But whatever I like that song:)_


	20. Chapter 20

Bill cleared his throat before beginning.

**21****st**** February 1989**

**It's been a long week waiting for Mia to write back. I sent her a letter the day after Valentines telling her about my idiocy. Her response finally arrived this morning. I think my hands are actually sweating.**

"She won't be mad." Ginny rolled her eyes.

Bill laughed "Remember he was only twelve when this was written and he doesn't know very much about girls."

"Yeah but he has known her for a while. He should give her more credit."

Molly jumped in before Bill could say anything else "this is a pointless discussion. We will find out what she said in a moment anyway if you keep reading."

_**Dear Perce,**_

_**Don't worry I don't mind I know you hate being put under pressure. You can always pretend we broke up at some point if you don't want to admit to your roommates that you were lying. I know these kinds of things make you feel nauseous. Let's just hope that neither of them says anything to your brother's because that could get awkward.**_

_**By the way I was totally serious about learning the guitar this summer. I hope you will too. Miss you a lot.**_

_**Love Mia.**_

**Well that was a relief. I was ninety percent sure that she wouldn't get angry but who can tell with girls.**

George chuckled.

**She was right though, lying and breaking rules does make me feel awful. Even thinking about it makes me want to hyperventilate and yes that does make me the biggest loser on planet earth but I can't help the fact that I have this abject fear of getting into trouble.**

**Fred and George would find this terribly funny so if they ever find this diary I'm just going to have to move far far away. Australia maybe that seems far enough. I may have to do that anyway if I'm ever made a prefect.**

"Well that's awkward."Charlie muttered.

**Most people would call that over dramatic and that my brothers are merely playing practical jokes and fooling around when they take my stuff and call me names and I should learn to laugh at myself more or play along.**

**To be perfectly honest I think enough people are already laughing at me and I really don't want to join in. Mia calls the things they do sub-standard bullying and when I think about it she does have a point.**

"That's not fair." Fred said indignantly.

"Actually it kind of is" Arthur said gently "I mean you might have found it funny taking his prefect badge and changing the words to something offensive but that doesn't mean that he did. In fact most people wouldn't have found that funny if you had done it too them."

Unsure of what to say to that the twins decided to stay silent for a while.

**23****rd**** February 1989**

**Again with the Quidditch madness. Seriously can this school focus on nothing else? What about the people who have no interest in the sport. The rivalry between the houses has become utterly ridiculous. Students are actually getting hexed by others simply because they play for one team or the other.**

**I can barely even distinguish between the different positions and my classmates seem to consider my elder brother as some kind of rock star. In fact I think I'd rather he were a rock star because that would be much cooler. Being talented enough to play an instrument and sing at the same time seems way more impressive than chasing a small golden ball around for periods of time. At least I think that's what he does. One of these days I'm going to have to pay attention when Charlie talks about Quidditch just so that I can actually follow the conversations in the hallway.**

**Ok rant over. Although now I have the strangest urge to actually learn the guitar like Mia suggested. Then I would be able to do something that none of my brothers can. Now that would be a nice feeling. To be able to say "Hey I'm talented too." **

**What a great feeling that would be.**

**I like this idea even more by the second. I am going to learn how to play this summer. Why shouldn't I? Next time I write to Mia I'll tell her. Eventually I will have to buy a guitar but I can get a job in the village when I'm a bit older and buy one second hand. **

"We are sure that this is Percy's diary right?" Ginny looked bewildered.

**15****th**** March 1989**

**Took a short break from all this writing because I didn't have very much to write about. I told Mia that I was going to join her in learning the guitar and we worked out how. I can't afford to take lessons like she can so every time she has one she'll show me what she learnt that day. **

**It will be a slow process but so worth it. One day I'm going to announce that I can play at the dinner table and then sit back and enjoy the expressions on the twin's faces.**

**Maybe one day I'll get a tattoo as well. That would be fun. My mother would not be very happy about it but a little bit of rebellion is healthy as long as nobody ever finds out.**

"HE HAD BETTER NOT HAVE ONE!"

Everyone else looked slightly alarmed at Molly's outburst.

**It will be Easter soon and I can't wait to get away from all this work even though I will still have to do some because the exams are next term. I hate exams I get very nervous and panicky. OWL and NEWT years are going to be so much fun...**

Charlie snorted.

**I probably won't write much more in this diary until the summer because I just don't have time with all the work I have to do and I'd very much like to still be able to do things like sleep and eat occasionally. **

"Whose turn is it now?" Bill asked.

_A/N Finally an update. I know it's been forever but I had exams and then my computer broke so I needed a new one but it's here now and I'll try to update again soon._


	21. Chapter 21

"Mine stupid" George reached out for the diary "blimey he's left quite a gap."

**July 6****th**** 1989**

**Home at last! No more stupid exams and I'm impatient to see Mia again, it's been months. The train journey takes too long. It will feel even longer come September when Fred and George join us at Hogwarts.**

"Rude!" Fred snorted.

"He's got a point though!" Ginny sniped back.

**Its late evening by the time we get home so there's no chance of going over the hill without being noticed. Not unless I sneak out my window again which is tempting but I'm too tired today. I wonder if she's started her guitar lessons yet.**

**July 7****th**** 1989**

**The first thing my best friend says to me after months of not seeing each other is "God what took you so long?"**

**I raise my eyebrows at her "Excuse me."**

**She cracks a smile at my expression "My school broke up a week ago."**

"**Lucky you."**

**I'm still feeling fairly disgruntled by the time we settle down by the river but I cheer up the moment she takes out the guitar. It's really cool looking, I've never seen one before but it's sleek and shiny and made out of wood. It surprises me how much I want one.**

**She shows me the chords she's learnt so far and then I try them myself. She stares at me looking a little miffed about something.**

"**That took me three hours to learn."**

**It took me ten minutes.**

Charlie looks surprised "he's a natural."

**I try not to look too pleased and tell her it's because she's a great teacher and that I'm still useless at everything else. It backfired because she thumped me as she does every time I'm 'being self-deprecating'. I tell her it's honesty but she never believes me.**

**31****st**** July 1989**

"**Don't stop belieeeeving!" **

**We laugh our heads off when the song finishes. We're sat in Mia's living room listening to the radio while she paints her nails and I practice on the guitar. She watches me out of the corner of her eye as I easily change from one chord to another.**

"**I give up" she finally says.**

"**What?"**

"**The guitar, I quit. You can have the stupid thing. I can't seem to get anywhere with it."**

**Unfortunately it's true. She's really, really bad but I say nothing and instead try and hand the instrument back.**

"**I can't take this!" Your parents spent money on it.**

**She sighs "I know but I'm never going to use it so it might as well go to someone who enjoys playing."**

**Before I can say anything else Julie comes in and smiles at me "It's true Percy, if she says she doesn't want then she means it. You know that so just take the guitar already."**

**I'm so incredibly touched that they would just give something like this to me that I don't argue further and try to clamp down on the affection that wells up in me. The fondness I feel for this family is indescribably. Kevin taught me how to play football the other day and I wasn't too bad. I still can't catch anything with my hands so that rules out all other sports but I didn't fall flat on my face this time.**

**I'm taking it as progress. At least I wasn't hundreds of feet in the air.**

"He doesn't know what he's missing" Bill sighed.

**Mia told me later that day that her dad loved having me around.**

"**I know he loves me" she said "but he always wanted a son as well." **

**I didn't know how to handle that statement but I've noticed that Kevin and I seem to be able to get along easier than I can with my own father. I could never tell him that though, he'd be devastated.**

George kept his eyes on the diary instead of his father's face and continued reading before anyone could say anything.

**So anyway I take the guitar and hide it in behind my wardrobe. I couldn't even begin to explain such a thing to my mother.**

**5****th**** August 1989**

**I did it again! I'm turning into such a delinquent. Fred and George would be proud, a thought which always makes me queasy.**

**It started with us listening to the radio again. There was a competition in which the winner would receive two tickets to a Queen concert in Brighton. Mia and I both love Queen and we both leap up in excitement.**

"**What is the Latin word for Queen?"**

**Mia squealed "I know that! I looked it up out of interest when you showed me your spell books and they all looked like Latin."**

**So she grabs the phone and dials the radio station and I'm stood there like an idiot, not sure what's happening. The Latin word for Queen is Regina apparently which I've never needed to know but my point is she wins the contest and we get the concert tickets. **

**What the hell were going to do with them I'll never know because I know that neither of our parents will let us go up to Brighton on our own. Mia even asked hers and they said no. The concert is tomorrow night and I've never wanted to go to anything so badly.**

**We both sit there dejected and all of a sudden I get the worst idea in the world.**

"**Let's go anyway."**

"WHAT!"

Fleur almost fell over at the sound of Mrs Weasley's shriek!"

"My turn" Fred said loudly before his mum could say anything else.

"Actually I think we should eat something and take a few minutes for your mother to calm down before we read any more."

"Read anymore of what?"

The voice came from the doorway and the Weasley's turned around in dread to see their Auntie Muriel had arrived.

"Uh oh." Ginny muttered.

What were they going to do now?

_A/N I'm back! Yes I'm late again but before you complain I would like to see you attempt a law degree, two part time jobs, moving your sick grandmother and all her stuff into your dining room and the try to update fanfiction. Am I stressed? Perhaps a little._

_What do you think of the chapter anyway?_


	22. Chapter 22

Auntie Muriel was of course delighted to be doing something as underhanded as reading someone's private diary and insisted on joining them, much to everyone's horror. Fred and George turned various shades of green at the thought of having something in common with the spiteful old woman. Ginny had to kick Fred in the shins to get him to hurry up and read.

He glared at her "Fine, I'll read, but only if people don't interrupt."

**7****th**** August 1989**

**We went to the concert last night. We snuck out mid-afternoon and took two buses and a train to get to Brighton. It was terrifying and yet exciting at the same time, doing something so dangerous. Mia kept grabbing my hand and squeezing it.**

**The music was so loud that my eardrums are still throbbing but that was actually the best part. The shockwaves the instruments made can be felt with your whole body. The room was filled with complete strangers but everyone was on the same wavelength, all buzzing with adrenaline and shouting the lyrics along with the band.**

**I'd never felt more alive.**

**We got home at well past midnight. Mia's parents were absolutely furious. I've never seem them so angry but that wasn't the worst part. It was the fact that they were disappointed in us that made me feel like my insides were shrivelling up. I hated the fact that I'd let them down so much it was like they were my own parents. Mia was grounded for the rest of the summer which meant I was too because there's not much for me to do without her, bar homework.**

**The Burrow was quiet when I got back which meant my absence hadn't been noticed. I'd gone to Brighton and back and been gone at least eight hours. Mia's mum and dad had been about to call the police, mine had gone to bed. And you know what? After the day I'd had the most surprising thing was that I wasn't angry about it. I wasn't sad or depressed. I felt nothing at all.**

**Like I no longer cared what anyone in this house thought of me. I think that was the moment I knew any chance I might have had of being part of this family had shattered without me noticing.**

**We were just too different.**

"Shit" George said quietly to his twin "I think we really screwed up."

Fred didn't answer him, eyes flickering between his mother's heartbroken face and Aunt Muriel's triumphant look, but before she could make some nasty comment he swallowed hard and carried on.

**22****nd**** August 1989**

**I turned thirteen today. I'm a teenager at last though I doubt my parents are too concerned about me becoming sullen and sulky, or getting into drugs. I expect their dreading it happening to the twins. Despite not getting anything I really wanted again I didn't really mind this year. I guess it's hard to buy a present for someone that's little more than a stranger.**

**The day was pretty uneventful though I was allowed to go round Mia's for a half hour because she'd been on her best behaviour. Her present was the best one I got. She got me a book and I opened it to find it was completely empty and had groups of straight lines bunched together. They all laughed at the expression on my face before Kevin explained it was a book to write my own music in.**

**Mia grinned at me "Put that guitar to good use." **

**Her parents got me some sheet music with my favourite songs on it and then spent the rest of the visit showing me how to read the music.**

**All in all this birthday was a hundred times better than last year. Everyone got the date right this time.**

Mrs Weasley had to leave the room at that point to pull herself together. They all looked at her concerned when she came back.

"Are you all right mum?" Bill asked.

"Yeah we can always stop if this is too hard for you, love" Arthur took her hand.

She shook her head "No. If this is the only way I'll ever really know my son, then I have to keep going."

Muriel couldn't resist "Perhaps if you'd been a better mother you wouldn't have to read this at all. All that talk about how you're all a family, when it seems you managed to overlook one of your children entirely. The rest of you aren't any better."

"That's enough Auntie!" Charlie snapped at her "if you can't be pleasant then you can leave."

Fred started to read again before she could say anything else.

**29****th**** August 1989**

**I spent the rest of the summer by myself. Oddly my realisation about my family and myself had very little impact on life. I thought once it sunk in I would be a least a little sad but instead I feel almost like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Now that I don't care what they think of me I don't have to make the effort to try and fit in.**

**I hadn't noticed how draining it was to try and be somebody other than myself. It was exhausting. I no longer care when they play Quidditch and don't even bother to ask me if I would want to play (which I don't anyway but it's common decency to at least ask).**

**I spent my days shut in my room reading or learning new songs on my guitar. I ripped up a couple of floorboards under my bed and made enough space to hide it. On the odd day I felt like fresh air I went into the village, as Mia's was of limits until her sentence was over.**

**There actually not much to do in Ottery St Catchpole. However I did meet this guy called Dave who owns a cafe in the village. He's like sixty but he and his wife Anna were pretty cool. We talked a lot about music, and literature and Dave said if Mia and I were bored next summer we were always welcome and if I wanted to learn the piano as well as guitar then he'd teach me in exchange for some help at the cafe.**

**I'm looking forward to that. The concert helped me realise how much enthusiasm I have for music and learning how to play even more instruments can only be fun. It's not a practical career choice, no matter how much I wish it was, but it's definitely more than a hobby. It's an escape, just like reading a book.**

**You can be whoever you want to be, jump into a completely different world where nobody can ever judge you.**

**That's the best feeling in the world.**

_A/N If there is the slimmest possibility I still have any readers left then I am so sorry and I hope you can forgive me! My exams are over now which means I actually can have a life again! I still have work though so I won't make any promises about when I'll next update but hopefully soon._


	23. Chapter 23

"It's my turn again" Molly said once everything Fred had just read sunk in.

**1****st**** September 1989**

**I don't know why but I was expecting this morning to be just as easy as it had been every other year. Get up, get dressed and head of to the Hogwarts Express in plenty of time. In fact I thought that since Bill had left Hogwarts last year that it might actually be easier seeing as how he was the one that hated to get out of bed early.**

**I should have known better. Nothing is ever simple when my twin brothers are involved.**

**First they decided that they simply couldn't wait for the rest of us to get up and set off several explosions. It was five am.**

"I remember that" Ginny shot a dark look at the grinning Fred and George.

**Then for their next trick, they decided that throwing the suitcases down the stairs would be fun. We had to sort through every piece of clothing to determine whose was whose and then repack all of it. By the time mum had finished yelling at them it was half past ten and we had little time to get to the train.**

**The train itself was a different challenge entirely. Within about thirty seconds they managed to both impress and terrify the entire student body. All I can say was that it involved the sweet trolley, more fireworks and my pet rat Scabbers.**

**I can't go into details. It's still very traumatic.**

"Hah" George exclaimed "it was a brilliant way to set the stage for our imminent arrival."

"What happened was..." Fred trailed off at his mother's face.

"Tell us later" Bill mouthed at them.

**My face was covered in soot as I managed to drag myself into the compartment where my dorm mates where sat.**

"**Dude, what happened to your face?" Matt asked.**

**I sighed "My twin brothers have joined us this year. Apparently they felt the need to make an entrance."**

**Oliver winced "You ok?"**

"**Yeah" I shrugged "just coming to terms with the fact that no matter how hard I pray, it's too late for me to be an only child."**

**They snorted and began a conversation about Quidditch teams I'd never heard. I leant my head against the cool window. If this was Fred and George's way of setting the tone for their school careers then we are in trouble.**

**God help us.**

Charlie snorted.

"I'm sure it can't be zat bad?" Fleur asked.

Bill, Charlie and Ginny cracked up laughing while Molly covered her face with her hands and Arthur patted her on the shoulder.

Muriel scowled "Those two bring shame on the entire family name. At least this Peter seems to have some sense of manners which is more than can be said for the rest of you."

"His name is Percy" Molly said through gritted teeth "and I will not have you speak about any of my children like that!"

Muriel snorted "You forget that this is my house and I shall say whatever I like. You should be grateful I'm allowing you to stay here."

Ginny opened her mouth to say something or perhaps to cast some kind of hex but her father placed his hand on her arm and shook his head. They had very few options at the moment and could not afford to alienate Muriel.

**September 23****rd**** 1989**

**The month has passed quickly. What with the new classes I elected to take this year, Arithmancy, Ancient runes and Care of Magical Creatures I've been drowned in homework from the former two that time seems to be speeding by.**

**Of course Fred and George attempt to humiliate on almost a daily basis which considering my newfound lack of emotion when it comes to my relatives is only mildly irritating. It bothers me more that my classmates laugh at me than the fact that the culprits of my embarrassment are my little brothers. **

**Coincidentally that's the reason they get away with it. Apparently it's not bullying when you're related to the bullies. It's just brotherly antics.**

**Who knew?**

"We are not bullies!"

"Calling someone names, disfiguring their property and deliberately humiliating them isn't bullying?" Ginny raised an eyebrow.

After their mother's subsequent rant the twins decided it might be best to just shut up for once.

**Arithmancy by the way is a ridiculously difficult subject and whatever possessed me to choose the damn subject can go right back to hell! I will never be able to pass the exams in it unless I stay up all night for the rest of the year! Why do I need to know about numbers anyway, I'm a wizard! I wish I had the brains of my eldest brother. He seemed to sail through his homework even in his final year and would often have time to sit in the common room and talk with his friends.**

**He keeps making noises about moving to Egypt and breaking curses or something now that he's finished school. Mum seems horrified by this idea and keeps trying to talk him out of it. It will be interesting to see who wins this argument.**

Bill grinned at his mother's sigh "First time I won an argument with her."

"And last" his father muttered.

**I can't help but be jealous of my perfect older brother. Quidditch player, Head Boy, perfect grades and most importantly right now does not have to attend Hogwarts at the same time as Fred and George.**

**Speaking of whom, the terrible twosome are oddly quiet. This is incredibly disturbing. They are currently sat in a small corner of the common room heads bent over a tattered piece of parchment they did not have this morning when Filch dragged them to his office for dropping Dungbombs in the corridor.**

**Just in case it's a weapon of mass destruction I decide to remove myself from their line of sight and go and hide in the dormitory. I have no desire to be made a fool of today. Every other day is more than enough. The sight of my yet undone Arithmancy homework fills me with dread. There is no escape from that torture.**

**I swear it's like this school was designed to put my every flaw on display so that people can have a good laugh. Like I don't already know how inferior I am.**

**Two years down. Five more to go.**

**Why me? Seriously?**

"I would like to read now" Aunt Muriel said imperiously and held out her hand for the small leather bound book.

Charlie decided not to mention that it was actually his turn. Let her bite someone else's head off.

_A/N You see I can update in a reasonable amount of time. On another note please check out my story __**Once Upon a Time**__and do feel free to review both stories. Without reviews my life grows colder:/_


	24. Chapter 24

**11th November 1989**

**The weather has turned nasty pretty quickly this year. We have snow already and it's only November. Mia tells me that November the 11****th**** is a special day in the muggle world. Apparently this is the day that the first muggle world war came to an end just over seventy years ago and every year on this day the muggles stop whatever they are doing at exactly 11 am and spend the next two minutes in total silence while they remember all the brave souls who died in defence of them in the war.**

**It's called Remembrance Day and people plant poppies in recognition of their lost soldiers. **

"We should do something like that" Bill said "to remember those who lost their lives to Voldemort or even Grindelwald."

Molly dabbed at her eyes.

Aunt Muriel merely huffed and carried on reading

**Muggles never cease to amaze me. That they would make the effort year upon year is truly remarkable. **

**Sometimes I wish I'd been born as one of them.**

**I love their technology. Television is one of my favourite pastimes and I watch it every time I am round Mia's house, it's so entertaining. Way better than radio.**

**Also pens, I can't cope without pens anymore. So much more efficient than quills. They keep the ink actually inside the pen and it lasts for days before it runs out and you don't have to stop to dab it in the ink every three seconds.**

**Homework takes me half the time it used too. **

"I want a pen" Ginny said immediately.

"Oh be quiet girl!" Aunt Muriel snapped.

Charlie shook his head at Ginny as he saw her reach for her wand.

**I've gone off on some bizarre tangent again. I think its stress, my workload seems to increase about this time of year and I think my brain may start leaking out of my ears soon.**

**No significant news about the family, nothing has changed. They unintentionally forget my existence or in the case of my twin brothers try to make my life miserable and I sometimes pretend to care because then they try something new which keeps life from becoming predictable.**

**I'm taking this whole chilled attitude about it all because I'm tired of being so morbid about it all the time. I look back through the diary and it's extremely depressing so I've decided that I'm not related to any of them and life has become so much easier.**

**24****th**** November 1989**

**Mia's birthday again. She's fourteen now, which apparently is the best age ever. I just laughed because she says the same thing every year. I've bought her a really nice thick scarf in pale grey which is exactly what she asked for. She forgets to buy a scarf every year though I don't know how she copes without one. If she went to Hogwarts she wouldn't have lasted five minutes. It is freaking cold in the winter.**

"No shit!" George exclaimed.

"I do not tolerate such language in my house!" Muriel screamed

"Oh shut up you poisonous old hag!"

Everyone turned with their mouth agape to Molly Weasley who had a hand over her mouth as if she couldn't believe it herself.

Aunt Muriel seemed to struggle to find a response herself before she raised herself up to her full height with dignity, stuck her nose in the air and said "You seem to forget that this is my house dear and you are only here because I am allowing you to be so keep your opinions to yourself before you find yourselves with nowhere to go."

With that she dropped the diary to the floor as though it was contaminated looked at them all once with her beady eyes and swept from the room."

There was a beat of silence before Fred and George pumped their fists in the air, Bill high fived Ginny and Arthur muttered "Thank Merlin..."

Charlie picked up the book and finally took his turn to read.

**The letter I sent her along with her present went like this:**

_**Hey guess who,**_

_**It feels like minus fifty up here in the winter so you're very lucky that I decided to send you this present instead of keeping it for myself!**_

_**Arithmancy has reared its ugly head again and decided to be monumentally difficult, even more so than usual, just in time for Christmas.**_

_**If you were the one that talked me into this stupid subject I shall never forgive you...**_

_**Back on the 8**__**th**__** of December. Ice skating in the usual place. Perhaps without the life threatening swim this time.**_

_**Happy birthday!**_

_**Love Percy.**_

"They are so cute" Molly smiled.

"It's disturbing" George stage whispered and Ginny kicked him.

**I hoped she would have really great day. Her letters had sounded kind of tense lately and I was waiting for her to tell me what was wrong.**

**I really should be doing that Arithmancy homework right now but it's not really last minute until tomorrow. I should get away with it.**

Arthur frowned "You should never leave your homework until the last minute."

Fleur laughed and Bill said "I bet you did the same thing."

"Yeah" Fred grinned "Only Hermione doesn't leave homework till the last possible second."

Arthur flushed slightly and even Molly looked slightly uncomfortable.

**8****th**** December 1989**

**Headed straight for Mia's the minute I got home. She hadn't answered my last letter which meant that something was really wrong.**

**She had tired eyes when I knocked on the door and simply gave me a hug before putting on her coat, and new scarf, before dragging me out to our usual hangout by the river.**

**I waited patiently for a while as we sat in silence until I couldn't bear it any longer.**

"**What's wrong?"**

"**I think..." she hesitated "I think my parents are getting divorced..."**

**Then she started to cry. I held her until the tears stopped.**

"**They've been fighting so much lately, shouting all the time and then pretending it's not happening when I'm around, like I can't hear them through the walls. Like I can't see that my mum's been crying. I wish they'd just tell me the truth because what I am imagining is probably much worse."**

**I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed "I'm always here if you want me to be. Even when I'm not really here and I'm at Hogwarts you can write and tell me everything and you can come here and pretend I'm here too. I'll always be there for you."**

**She smiled warmly and rested her head on my shoulder "I know."**

_A/N I'm back! Hello again! Seriously I have the best readers ever, I would not still be doing this is it weren't for you, especially with everything going on in my life right now:/ Stressful few months is an understatement. Why am I doing a law degree? For those of you who love __**Once Upon a Time**__ my other in progress fic then you'll have to be patient a bit longer. Christmas Holidays start on the 12__th__! Can't wait...x_


	25. Chapter 25

"I hope Mia's parents don't get divorced" Ginny said "they sound really nice."

"Sadly this type of thing is getting more and more common" Bill shook his head "Although less so in wizarding families."

He smiled at his wife as she took the book from Charlie and began to read.

**24****th**** December 1989**

"**Maybe you could be a musician when you grow up."**

**I glanced over at her. She was leant against her bed reading a magazine. We were waiting for the Chinese food to arrive. Mia's family apparently did this every year on Christmas Eve because her mum didn't want to cook the night before Christmas especially as she had to make a bug meal in the morning. This year they had invited me as well.**

**I poked her with my foot "Yeah and maybe pigs will fly one day."**

"**Can't you make one levitate? Isn't that the same thing more or less?"**

**Changing the subject was probably the safest move.**

"**How are your parents doing now? "**

**She shrugged "They're not fighting as much now that my dad's come back. I think the space did them some good."**

**Kev had stayed with his sister for a week or so and though it had been horrible for Mia at the time it really had seemed to make things better between her parents. I was glad I liked both Kev and Julie and the thought of them separating was as alien a concept as both Fred and George getting straight Outstanding's in their exams.**

Fred put a hand over his chest "How very rude."

Charlie grinned "But accurate."

"At least Mia's parents seem to be doing ok" Molly said.

**If that ever happened I would quite happily eat that ugly hat we were required to wear at the start and end of year feasts. Mia tapped me lightly with her magazine.**

"**You've wandered off into your own head again."**

"**Sorry."**

"**Food's here!" Kev bellowed up the stairs.**

**I'd never eaten Chinese food before. Hogwarts was never that multi-cultural but I assumed the Chinese had their own wizarding school. Muggles seemed to enjoy food from all parts of the world and I'd been introduced to a lot of new exciting things at the Elliot house. I hoped Chinese would be just as nice as Thai.**

"I suddenly have the urge to try Chinese food" Ginny proclaimed.

"What on earth is Thai?"

Arthur sighed "Honestly George, its food from Thailand. Didn't you know that?"

"You should all try French food" Fleur announced.

Bill grimaced behind her back and mouthed _"Snails."_

**Mia and I had already exchanged gifts. It would be harder to disappear on Christmas day for several hours. My brother's might actually notice so it was easier to do it the day before. Mia had gotten me a guitar case for my guitar that was currently hiding underneath my floorboards where it was safe from being tampered with if the twins ever found it. **

"**It's so much harder to buy for boys than girls." Mia had complained when handing it over.**

**I'd laughed because it was true. I'd bought her a new sketchbook because she'd managed to drop the last one in a puddle. She gave me a hug and then promptly made me sit still for over an hour so that she could draw me. She draws me a lot mostly because it amuses her that I complain so much.**

"Or maybe because she wants lots of pictures of him" Fred said dramatically and then he winced because Ginny had thumped him.

"**Stop whingeing" she says and so I glare at her instead which makes her laugh harder. **

**26****th**** December 1989**

**Thank God that's over. I managed to resist the urge to set fire to the new quills I'd been given. It would probably have been regarded as ungrateful.**

**Seriously though was that the most imaginative thing they could come up with. I know my parents are short of money, they always are but they managed to get everyone else something they were actually interested in. Ron got a Chudley Cannons poster. Even that would have been better and I hate Qudditch. **

**I shut myself in my room for most of the day and played the guitar as quietly as possible. That's as close as I get to sulking these days because if my life has taught me anything at all it's that the more fuss you make the less people seem to notice. **

**Plus you know it wouldn't achieve anything anyway. I should be used to the sucky Christmas gifts by now. Why do I still care what they get me?**

**Mia and I are going ice skating today. That always cheers me up although we only skate of the thin river and steer well clear of the pond that once tried to kill us both. I'm getting pretty good at it too. I guess there is some athletic capability in me after all. I was beginning to think I was adopted.**

**It would explain so many things.**

"You know it would" Charlie said "he is so very different from the rest of us."

Molly shook her head "He is not adopted."

**January 1****st**** 1990**

**The eighties are over and the nineties begin at last. Mia's parents had a big party last night and they let us both try champagne. It was gross. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Maybe I'll like it when I'm older but I seriously doubt it. **

**We all stood outside at midnight and let off some fireworks. They were just as beautiful as magical ones and we could see the ones let off by the village as well. Dave and Anna went abroad this Christmas so I doubt I'll see them until the summer. Mia is exited to work in their café and earn a little money and so am I.**

**Back to school in a few days. Homework and still more homework awaits.**

**Joy.**

_A/N I hope this was worth the wait and a long wait is was. I've had a hell of a year so far and when I say hell I really do mean it. Fortunately there is little else the universe can throw at me that it hasn't already done so and thus things must be about to improve._


End file.
